Is Online Poker Legal In The USA
De CidesaWiki
Online poker is but one Americas favorite pastimes however with recent developments many Americans still wonder whether playing poker on the internet is actually legal or otherwise not. I am not a lawyer and have no legal background but I did plenty of research for this topic and still have made my very own conclusions.
In 2006, the United States passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act or UIGEA. The bill was attached to the Safe Ports Act and was overwhelmingly passed into law. This was the work of two US Senators whom wished to end internet gambling inside United States.
The UIGEA has been a controversial law since that time it passing. In short regulations helps it be illegal for Banks and also other financial institutions to knowing process payments when it comes to gambling from United States residents. The Act excluded lotteries and fantasy sports and also games of skill. Initially it turned out belief that poker online wouldn't be effected with the bill as much viewed poker as a skill game. Unfortunately, since several poker players know, the Department of Justice considered poker gambling and enforced the law with all the indictment in the those who own some from the largest online poker sites that still accepted Americans. Poker sites such as Full Tilt, Poker Stars, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were the first one to fall. Subsequent on-line poker rooms would also later be indicted yet others decided to leave the US market.
With all that said, does the UIGEA really make playing online poker illegal? The simple and short response is no. The law applies simply to the loan companies and poker online rooms. Nowhere in the law will it state that anyone who plays poker online is breaking what the law states. Nor should it claim that making deposits and withdraws from the poker room are illegal. The onus is about the banks and poker rooms to follow regulations.
So how do some the poker room still accept USA players? Many poker rooms consider the stance that because they're licensed and regulated in countries beyond your United States plus they need not abide through the UIGEA. For this reason they continue to accept existing and new USA poker players. This is a very "grey" area of regulations but hopefully within the near future we will see full regulation of internet poker in the United States. Some states have passed bills allowing online poker inside their state borders. With such progress we hope to see poker regulated at a national level soon.
