Online Poker legal or illegal?

Sorry for the noob question but just wondering if online poker is illegal for US residents how can sites like pokerstars allow them to play?

I know there must be some loop hole.

I need to explain to some US residents how they CAN play and not get in trouble

Can someone please explain.

Thanks.

It is not Illegal as in the criminal sense directly, the US law passed basically made it illegal for credit card companies and banks (I think) to process overseas transactions to gambling sites.

http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/uigea.html

Ah i see thanks for the link.

so say on pokerstars for example can a US player deposit and withdraw using something like VISA? if not what would they do

I dont think credit cards can be used to withdraw (course I only play at FTP and not PS).what FTP does is, they require some verification of idenity and after they clear then withdrawls by check can be done. I'm guessing PS has something similar in place

I use my Visa and have never had a problem. I know some use prepaid visa cards cards you re load I think. I sure someone will come up with the answer for ya Good Luck

Thats right there are many convenience stores that sell what is called the visa all-acces card, you load it up ($25.00 min) and your deposit goes through really fast if it is pokerstars that you want to deposit on

Could someone get arrested or charged for online gambling or cashing a check from an online site and I'm from Trinidad in the Caribbean does anybody know if it is legal for me just wondering.

The cheques don't mention anything about poker on them. It's from some company that isn't related to the poker site in any way. So no you'll never get in trouble for cashing a cheque.

as mentioned, the recent laws -- like the ones you might have heard referenced on 60 minutes -- don't make playing online poker illegal. they simply made it more difficult to process deposits to gambling sites. i haven't deposited in a very long time (thinly veiled brag) so i'm not sure what methods still work, but i know there are still perfectly legal ways

the laws also don't affect your ability to withdraw your money from the sites. it's totally safe (as long as you're on a secure, reputable site like FTP or stars, otherwise you're taking a bit of a risk imo) and you have every right to it. you can have a check sent to you and cash it completely legally

there might be some places where it actually is explicitly illegal to play online poker (kentucky i think? not sure), but not many. i don't know all about that, you'd have to research it

I know that it's illegal in Washington but I don't think anyone has ever been charged.

oh yeah, i forgot about washington

but yeah, somehow i doubt that they're going to barge into your house and arrest you because you're playing online poker in washington. it might be "illegal" in the same sense that downloading music or driving 2 miles per hour over the speed limit are; that is to say not strictly enforced at all and usually ignored

I've never had trouble depositing with a VISA card at Full Tilt or PS, but now that I want to withdraw, it's a lot harder. Looks like Full Tilt has upped their check minimum to $100 from $50 -- I finally made it over $50 and still am out of luck. Of course I wouldn't need to withdraw if they offered me rakeback. If anyone at Full Tilt is reading this, please get on the ball! They told me not to ask them about it anymore via support, and that was only after two tries. Sheesh, touchy.

To my knowledge:

The Law stated that it is illegal for financial institutions to make transactions with Online Gambling Sites.

Most Poker Sites dispute that online poker is Gambling.
It's not a game of Luck it's a game of Skill.
They take rake and have no invested interest in who wins or looses.

To my knowledge to date: No individual has been charged or convicted of an illegal act by playing poker online.





Just my thoughts.

however I think the law might change because of Obama. It just makes sense. It doesn't really change much of anything, I don't think.

Just because you do something illegal does not mean you get in trouble every time or ever....smoking weed is a good example

Since I have researched this pretty throughly over the past few years....I will give you the answers (thoughts) I have found.

Is Online Poker illegal in the United States

Easy answer YES it is -- No less of an authority than the Department of Justice of the United States has said so many times in speeches and interviews. No grey area, no question..they have said it is ILLEGAL PERIOD end of sentence in all of the US.

Now does that mean it really is ILLEGAL? well not necessarily....they would have to take a test case by actually arresting someone and seeing if the could obtain a conviction and it hold up in appeals. Many lawyers do not beleive a conviction would hold...but none are guaranteeing it

Most likely there will not be any arrests--but that was not the question

Now--to make it more complicated, at least 12 States make it expressly (or in some legalesse form) illegal to play poker. The most well-known is Washington State that makes it a felony. Another strongly worded law exists in Louisiana. Of course, if you have been following the news, Kentucky has also become famous (they are even trying to take many sites domain names away from them--luckily recently slowed down by appeals court). The laws in those states are the reasons Microgaming had restricted the 12 states players from playing, until they pulled out from registering any new US players just recently.

New Administration

Now, while everyone thinks Obama and his allies are on poker's side, nothing has yet been done to change the current illegality, ALTHOUGH, Barney Frank and some other Dems are attempting to at least get the UIGEA overturned as well as possibly making Online Poker expressly LEGAL.

We will have to wait and see if this will happen.

I assure you one thing...if online poker were not illegal in the United States, all those poker sites would not exclude US players and Party Poker would not have paid a big sum to the US Govt for illegal activities