Why is Online Poker not legal in the US?

I really does not make sense because the government would be able to effectively tax people if it was. People still play its harder to deposit but it doesnt really stop anyone.

There is no way to regulate it either.

The same argument could be made about legalizing pot, etc. I've stopped asking why and just go with it.

its not legal to play online poker in the states. Weird must be cause governments dont feel right letting people gamble their money and houses away or something. Anyone kno if its legal to play when u live in Canada.

Cardschat has a list of legal US poker sites for players.

It is legal in Canada yes.

The U.S. has government issues.

Humm, I've never thought about it being unlegal in the states until reading these posts. Are there any controls in Canada with on line gambling?

Cross out un....illegal

It is NOT illegal to play online poker in the US (except for 3 states...Washington, and I think Illinois and Kentucky). It is ILLEGAL for BANKS/PAYMENT processors to knowingly transfer (deposit) funds to an offshore gambling entity.

Is it more difficult to deposit online than it used to be before the UIGEA? Yes. But there are threads on here to explain how to do that (and it's really not THAT hard).

The New UIGEA Regulations and what You can do to Fight Them

Here is a thread to explain the UIGEA. The banks cannot deposit funds to the offshore gambling sites, (which might as well be all of them), but if they send you paper checks, then the banks must respect them.

It all boils down to one thing imo, and that is they cannot tax it effectively, Also the gov will be getting alot of shit from the live gambling lobby.

Well i can sum it up like this Our government is dumb
Oh and it's all THANKS to the NFL

The Canadian government only pays attention if you deposit more than 10K into your bank account and not claim it on your taxes. Otherwise there are no restrictions. And playing online poker is not illegal in the US, Just making deposits to poker sites through certain channels (i'm not sure what ones, direct bank transfers and credit cards i think) is illegal.

As far as regulation goes, it's not as difficult as people think. A simple % tax system on rake collected by American players paid directly from the host site would be simple enough. And since everything online is recorded and stored it would be hard for a site to not pay properly. Just think, even at 1% anually from a major sire, say Stars or FT, would be hundreds of thousands of dollars in added revinue for your government to bail themselves out of the recession. The Canadian government is looking into similar measures for Canadian based sites and players, though since any sites based in Canada are very small, I don't see this going anywhere on my side of the border.

It seems like a huge contradiction, they legalize casino's yet make online gaming sites illegal..reason being they simply can't force tax legislation from sites registered in other countries...and amost every gaming site is registered in another country or an indian reserve. So I guess those sites that want to legalize online gaming in the US have to agree to run their sites from the US, so they would pay taxes to the govt.

Thats pretty much it

I don't think Bodog is very small.

At the federal level in the US, there is no legislation in place against online poker. In fact, there's nothing against banks transferring funds to online poker sites either. The UIGEA is linked to the Wire Act, and as such only deals with bookmaking. The federal government is essentially lying in an attempt to strongarm banks to prevent people from partaking in an activity the government can't control, regulate, or tax.

The UIGEA was originally supposed to contain provisions to expand the Wire Act to include online casino and poker sites, but they had to be removed in order to get the bill passed in time. So essentially, the UIGEA changed nothing, but it lead to a lot of confusion which leads us to where we are now.

Yes.. if memory serves then UIGEA had the online poker provisions specifically removed because of the wording of the Wire Act.

The wording meant that if an existing bricks and mortar casino used the internet, or other wire means, to self promote, it was in danger of breaking the Wire Act. If the casino in question provided contact details then it could be construed that it had obtained the wager in a way which broke the law.

Thus the Wire Act was not extended to cover online casinos because of the possible backlash which bricks and mortar casinos might face.

I completely agree. With Americas fiscal woes they need all the money they can get. If they were to legalize gambling online they would be able to regulate and tax a huge source.

Completely agree. This is the most common mis-contrived thing I've ever had the time to explain to others. It's all about bank processing. Not the fact that gambling is illegal.

This is more or less dead on... It's extremely hypocritical, and far from the only thing in US law that is that way.

However, there are a few things you should understand about the US (most of this is for non-US readers)


There are 50 states in the US, and there are state laws and federal laws. The UIGEA is a federal law and it DOES NOT make online poker illegal. It does make it illegal for banks to knowingly transfer money to or from online gambling entities, which is virtually impossible to strictly enforce so all it effectively does is annoy everybody without stopping anything.

While things may be legal at the federal level, states may individually decide to outlaw something. Washington state and one or two others have made online poker explicitly illegal.

Prostitution might be a good example here... afaik there isn't any federal law outlawing it, however almost every state everywhere HAS outlawed it. About the only exception are certain parts of Nevada have legal brothels, and that's a state thing.


Ultimately thought.. it's all about power and money and not about morals in any way, shape or form. Anyone who says different is retarded or delusional (possibly both). It's not about morals because we are A-OK with lotteries, horse gambling, and various casinos (atlantic city, las vegas in particular). Most casinos in most other states only exist because the government can't tell a native American Indian tribe that they can't run one, so most do.

Politicians support these measures to keep getting votes from puritanical, religious right types (which have a ton of influence here...they are how Bush got elected twice). Lotteries usually pass with a "it's for the children" rallying cry (aka we will spend the proceeds on education... of course half the time they just shift money that was going to education to something else as soon as lottery money shows up so it has minimal impact on education anyway). As soon as they figure out a way to effectively tax poker, it will become legal though. Money usually trumps keeping the Right happy ultimately.

It's also worth noting btw... You ARE supposed to be paying taxes on poker winnings now. If you aren't and they audit you and catch it, you are royally screwed (I'd rather deal with the mafia than the IRS I think).

However, most either don't or don't understand they are supposed to. I'm quite sure the IRS is missing out on a ton of extra revenue from online poker simply because it is not reported by the sites or by the players (at their own risk). If it were easier/more automated (aka the sites report anyone who wins more than $x amount in a year) revenue would skyrocket.

Would also help if they'd update the tax code to something that made sense... What the hell is a session? Nobody knows.

/yes I got off topic, sorry!

If Donald Trump was smart he'd take one of his empty casino or storage warehouses in Atlantic City and start his own online Casino's. Then lets see how the government says he can't do it.
Licsensed for it, Legal in state, just do it and see what happens.

If I remember right they passed these laws as part of a "terrorism bill", that no politician in there right mind could vote against, with the circumstances from 9/11.I wonder which site Osama bin laden plays.Please keep your eye out for Osama as you play poker online and immediately report if you see him to the U S Government,since they cant seem to find him on their own.

its mainly cause our goverment dont know how to squeeze money out of the sites in different countrys so they would rather see us spend it on us land owned casinos and their so worried about our pressious tax dollars who are we gonna bail out next [sorry went a little off topic ]

well I wish they would fix something with this issue

cause its causing me very much grief playing online.

I am in MI which makes it worse lol.

I want back to my bread and butter rooms I was kicked

out of when that damn law passed. I don't make money anymore

like I used to because of this law.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr gov can kma lol

USA also pays attention to anything 10k and over that you deposit. That is why all poker sites have a 9k max on withdraw at one time. Atleast the ones I play at do.

The hypocrisy of the U.S. gov't has no limits. Just because they can't get a piece of the pie they don't want anybody else to have one either. It makes me sick how the Gov't continually shits on the american people and not one person cares to change an outdated and corrupt system. sigh

thats exactly why it still is like it is. just too many people play poker but just a few do something, so the people they elected to represent them, well represent them.

I'm guessing they don't want us to deposit any money into poker sites because they need our money to lose. I guess allo the billions we are giving them now is'nt enough. lol

The precise history is:

"This Act was passed on the day Congress adjourned for the 2006 elections. Though a bill with the gambling wording was previously debated and had passed by the House of Representatives, the SAFE Port Act (H.R. 4954) as passed by the House on May 4th and the U.S. Senate on September 14th, did not show any traces of the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act that was part of the SAFE Port Act signed into law by George W. Bush on October 13th, 2006. The UIGEA was added in Conference Report 109-711, which was passed by the House by a vote of 409-2 and by the Senate by unanimous consent on September 30, 2006. Due to H. Res. 1064, the reading of this conference report was waived." Source: http://www.usdgaming.com/2007/03/leg...-of-uigea.html

So, the UIGEA was glued on AFTER the SAFE Port Act was passed, completely without the UIGEA provisions. I would point out to those who continually want to make this a Demagogacrats -vs- Repugnicans issue, that the votes from both sides of the aisle were overwhelmingly in favor of this "add-on".

Bodog is in Antigua with support services in Canada.

Cereus (UB and AB) are Canada, if you count Kahnawake.

I think PokerStars is Israel. Where are Carbon, Cake and FullTilt? How difficult would it be for any of these companies to set up in the US if legalized?

Its not illegal. They just say that. You know how many people would get in trouble.. LMAO! Illegal please I play everyday and I live in the states..

DonkeySmash

How are all these site up and running if it is so illegal? I have seen that some sites don't let you play for money depending on the State you reside in but others don't even make that a issue. Is it State by State or illegal period.