Is Online Poker Legal In The USA
De CidesaWiki
Online poker is one Americas favorite pastimes but with recent developments many Americans still wonder if playing poker on the web is actually legal or otherwise. I am not a lawyer and have no legal background but I have done plenty of research for this topic and have made my 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 task of two US Senators whom wanted to end gambling online within the United States.
The UIGEA has become a controversial law since it passing. In short regulations makes it illegal for Banks and also other financial institutions to knowing process payments with regards to gambling from United States residents. The Act excluded lotteries and fantasy sports as well as games of skill. Initially it turned out thought that poker online wouldn't be effected through the bill as many viewed poker being a skill game domino qq. Unfortunately, since several poker players know, the Department of Justice considered poker gambling and enforced the law while using indictment with the those who own some with the largest on-line 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 poker online rooms would also later be indicted among others chose to leave the US market.
With everything that said, does the UIGEA really make playing poker online illegal? The simple and short answer is no. The law applies and then the finance institutions and poker online rooms. Nowhere in legislation can it declare that any individual who plays internet poker is breaking what the law states. Nor can it state that making deposits and withdraws from poker sites are illegal. The onus is for the banks and poker rooms to stick to what the law states.
So just how do some the poker room still accept USA players? Many poker sites make stance that since they're licensed and regulated in countries outside of the United States and they also don't have to abide through the UIGEA. For this reason they always 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 internet poker within their state borders. With such progress hopefully to determine poker regulated in a national level soon.
