I've been out of the poker scene for a couple years now. Is there any progress in getting a site like PokerStars back for US players? What gives a certain site like ACR or Juicy Stakes to operate for US players but not a site like PokerStars?
Basically what happened on Black Friday was, that US authorites cracked down on the operators, that were the largest in the US market, and that had assets inside US, that could be confiscated. These were PokerStars, Fult Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet / Absolute Poker. Before then
partypoker had already voluntarely left the US market, after the wire act was implemented some years earlier.
As for the sites still accepting US customers, I assume, they just keep all their assets outside of US, and choose to avoid the US banking system. I have heard of crypto currencies, which is obviously one of the ways to do it. But in principle US authorities could also try to go after these sites. As authorities have tried to go after poker sites in many ofter grey market countries.
It was part of the deal between PokerStars and US authorities after "Black Friday", that PokerStars would no longer allow people to play while in the US. This is also why, PokerStars go aggressively after US based players trying to cheat them with VPNs or whatever.
https://calvinayre.com/2018/12/07/p...nishment-pokerstars-drops-court-fees-pursuit/
However its not your nationality or even country of residence, that determine, if you can play. Its where, you are psysically located, when you try to log on the site. For instance I have tried to log on to
pokerstars.com from a swedish IP adress, which was refused with the message "we are currently not offering services in your country".
As for the situation about getting online poker regulated and legal in the US, it seem to be moving at a glacial pace. I guess, there is just to much money involved, and some influencial casino owners, who dont like to get online competition. There is also a strong religious cummunity, who is against all kinds of
gambling.
Its an uphill battle, and it will hardly be easier after the Stones cheating scandal, which happened in live poker but will certainly remind people of all the ways, its possible to cheat online.