Online Poker in the United States?

I noticed that there are places in Nevada that online poker is allowed. Do you foresee online poker being established in the United States and allowing players from most states to participate in the near future?

For the most part it looks like it is going to be a slow and steady process. Now that a couple of different states are starting to gain intrastrate sites (and hopefully California is next), it will only be a matter of time. Once a few of the bigger population states have legislation in place then we will probably see a shift towards national legislation.

I still imagine this taking a few years, but getting california regulated should speed up everything.

I really miss poker stars. I sure hope there's something that happens nationally in the next year or two.

multis10 said:

I noticed that there are places in Nevada that online poker is allowed. Do you foresee online poker being established in the United States and allowing players from most states to participate in the near future?

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It seems pretty clear that NJ will be following Nevada's lead soon. Given that PA has passed NJ as the second largest state in terms of gambling revenue, I would imagine that PA won't be far behind.

-HooDooKoo

Curious, I've always wonder'd why are American's are allowed to play on certain sites but not other sites?

I mean I see American players at Carbon/Bovada/BCP but your not allowed to play on sites such as Stars/FTP/PP, why is this the case? What is it about certain sites that allow you all to play at and other sites you can't play at?

naruto_miu said:

Curious, I've always wonder'd why are American's are allowed to play on certain sites but not other sites?

I mean I see American players at Carbon/Bovada/BCP but your not allowed to play on sites such as Stars/FTP/PP, why is this the case? What is it about certain sites that allow you all to play at and other sites you can't play at?

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Some sites made the decision not to allow US players. Others decided to allow US players. It's really that simple.

-HooDooKoo

BomTombadil said:

I really miss poker stars. I sure hope there's something that happens nationally in the next year or two.

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stop hoping and get involved, make something happen

HooDooKoo said:

Some sites made the decision not to allow US players. Others decided to allow US players. It's really that simple.

-HooDooKoo

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I don't follow, why wouldn't Poker-Stars want the U.S (If I recall correctly), the U.S was one of the biggest online pool for Poker-Stars correct me If I'm not mistaken and by not allowing you all to play their, they would in-fact be losing out on a ton of business which doesn't really sound all that bright IMO.

I thought it was the US goverment that gave the axe to ps/ub/ftp? Why the others didnt get shut down is fine with me becuzz i will play there till they do. As for online poker leaving big gambling stats i just dont see it.

Probably it will expand state by state, hopefully California will join Nevada, which seems to have the best law so far.

naruto_miu said:

Curious, I've always wonder'd why are American's are allowed to play on certain sites but not other sites?

I mean I see American players at Carbon/Bovada/BCP but your not allowed to play on sites such as Stars/FTP/PP, why is this the case? What is it about certain sites that allow you all to play at and other sites you can't play at?

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Perhaps these site that dont let the US players in have executives that travel to the US occasionaly and the sites the do let US in dont travel here and they are not worried about subjecting their selves to arrest for illegal activities.If I am correct all these sites started restricting US player back when the US government arressted the netteler executives when they hit US soil back in 2005 or 2006 and seized 400 million in netteller assets.Their excuse back then was all these poker sites were laundering terrorist money thru their sites.I say that the US government cant find a way to get there cut so they're doing all they can do make sure they do in the future.

naruto_miu said:

I don't follow, why wouldn't Poker-Stars want the U.S (If I recall correctly), the U.S was one of the biggest online pool for Poker-Stars correct me If I'm not mistaken and by not allowing you all to play their, they would in-fact be losing out on a ton of business which doesn't really sound all that bright IMO.

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pokerstars entered into an agreement with the US Gov, and agreed not to offer services to the US until and unless they were properly licensed to do so. This kept the door open for their possible return to the US market. That agreement cost them 3/4 billion dollars, and they hope to see a return on that investment.

curtinsea said:

Pokerstars entered into an agreement with the US Gov, and agreed not to offer services to the US until and unless they were properly licensed to do so. This kept the door open for their possible return to the US market. That agreement cost them 3/4 billion dollars, and they hope to see a return on that investment.

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Ok that is a wise decision by Poker-Stars than...So all these other sites Carbon/BCP/Lock and w/e else already agreed to the U.S governments demands, and that is why you're all allowed to play at these sites, correct?


So If I'm not mistaken, the U.S government wants tax from the Poker-sites? Than from there (A U.S player), would be able to play on that site, correct? Now say this player wanted to receive a check, he than would need to ask for a "cashout" (Which is normal), yet when the check comes to him, than he would pay more taxes if I'm not mistaken, correct? You would than need to pay your tax in the state you live in+the Federal taxes also correct?


So real issue seems to be how to get sites to agree to pay state tax+Federal tax, or something more?

Interesting thread. I quit playing online when pokerstars was blocked to US players. But, correct me if I am wrong, unless a state law explicitly prohibits online gambling then I should have no problem depositing/cashing out?

I doubt Alabama in the US will ever. So backward in everything.

Seems like it is going to be a state by state situation for some number of years. I agree with the above poster, if you are in Alabama or Georgia, you might never see online poker from a PokerStars level site again. I think once California gets it going any fairly progressive state, Colorado, Washington, Illinois, etc. will have sites up and running and all the operating states will then be connected soon after.

I would love to play on Ultimate Poker. The software looks really nice. So here is to hoping for VA to legalize sometime before I'm dead and then sharing player pools.

erdnase13 said:

Interesting thread. I quit playing online when pokerstars was blocked to US players. But, correct me if I am wrong, unless a state law explicitly prohibits online gambling then I should have no problem depositing/cashing out?

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depositing and cashing out are troublesome to varying degrees on all sites. ACR is probably the best of the bunch. States where it is explicitly prohibit though, an account at ACR is not attainable, unless you had an account already that is grandfathered in.

Operating a gambling site without a license is explicitly prohibited in all 50 States, and only two states are issuing internet gaming licenses. DE is a different beast, as they are operating under state lottery authority, and the market will not be open for competitive operations.

curtinsea said:

Operating a gambling site without a license is explicitly prohibited in all 50 States, and only two states are issuing internet gaming licenses.

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Transactions to and from gambling sites that are not licensed are still prohibited under UIGEA

curtinsea said:

Transactions to and from gambling sites that are not licensed are still prohibited under UIGEA

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In which states you can play online?

xtrigemino said:

In which states you can play online?

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Pretty sure you can play somewhere from all 50 States. That doesn't make it legal. Only a few states actually make playing a crime, WA being one of them.

Only NV currently has a fully legal situation, with only two sites running. NJ will go live Nov. 26th, remains to be seen which and how many sites go live. DE will launch their lottery-run operation, with a poker site said to be a part of that launch, shortly after NJ.

naruto_miu said:

So all these other sites Carbon/BCP/Lock and w/e else already agreed to the U.S governments demands, and that is why you're all allowed to play at these sites, correct?

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No, they simply haven't had the full force of the DoJ crack down on them. There were witnesses to falsified transactions that led to the Black Friday indictments. All the other sites continue to operate in violation of UIGEA and State gaming laws.

So If I'm not mistaken, the U.S government wants tax from the Poker-sites? Than from there (A U.S player), would be able to play on that site, correct? Now say this player wanted to receive a check, he than would need to ask for a "cashout" (Which is normal), yet when the check comes to him, than he would pay more taxes if I'm not mistaken, correct? You would than need to pay your tax in the state you live in+the Federal taxes also correct?

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Taxes will of course be the cost of doing business in the future, but as the the big 'why?' question, there are many answers to that. Personally, I believe the 3/4 billion dollar cash grab was the motivating factor behind the BF cases. The fact they had witnesses allowed them the leverage to force a settlement and avoid having to actually prove a case, thereby allowing the 'gray area' to remain gray for all the other operators.

It can also be argued that the whole reason was to clear the market so that US based companies could come in with a competitive advantage. This is most likely also true.

The bottom line, our government asserts it's authority whenever and wherever it can.

So real issue seems to be how to get sites to agree to pay state tax+Federal tax, or something more?[/quote]

its going to be a long process, not to mention the government shut down right now. Poker may actually be the last thing on their minds right now. Although New Jersey just started passing legislation for online gaming. I hope its just a domino effect next and states just keep jumping on board. I just cant see it happening even a year from now though

I don't understand about the government. they lie all the time and shutdown then? I dont understand..... How much debt has? 17Trillions? 18 Trillions?
Tell you what, We should go for canada!!!