Is Poker Legal In Us
Back in New Jersey & More States to Come in 2020?
Currently, PokerStars is only available in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
By the end of 2015, as many as a dozen states could allow their residents to play on legal online poker sites. That number may be higher if a federal bill, the Internet. No federal law specifically prohibits US players from creating online poker accounts and playing for real money online. State laws are more complicated. Most of them fail to directly address US poker sites at all. Only one – Washington State – explicitly designates online poker as a criminal activity. Legal Online Poker in the USA. Six states have legalized online poker. Out of those, four currently have sites up-and-running. Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Two more states legalized online poker but are still working on setting things up. West Virginia, legalized online poker in 2019. Is Online Poker Legal in the US? Some US states are known for their poker rooms and world-class games. However, when it comes to online poker, the laws are more restrictive. Currently, only four US states have legalized online poker and launched online gambling platforms — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Delaware.
Updated March. 5, 2020 – PokerStars launched in Pennsylvania and has the highest traffic of all regulated poker sites in America. It also hosted the Pennsylvania Online Championship of Poker. This was a huge series with more than $1 million in guaranteed prizes. It took years, but it looks like it was worth the wait for Pennsylvania players.
PokerStars has been running strong in New Jersey since 2016, but it hasn’t reached the size Pennsylvania has. A shared player pool could really kick things up a notch though. We’ll see if success in Pennsylvania leads to PokerStars in more states.
Legal Online Poker in the USA
Six states have legalized online poker. Out of those, four currently have sites up-and-running. Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Two more states legalized online poker but are still working on setting things up. West Virginia, legalized online poker in 2019. But online poker sites there aren’t expected to launch until 2021. The same goes for Michigan.
When it comes to PokerStars, only two states have Poker Stars software. PokerStars gained approval to operate in New Jersey in 2015. Their site, pokerstarsnj.com, went live on March 21, 2016. Of course, you have physically located in New Jersey to play. It’s play money for all other states. PokerStars NJ also offers casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette and more.
PokerStars then launched in Pennsylvania in late 2019. They kicked things off with the Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker that drew thousands of players and culminated in a $300 buy-in main event with a $100,000-guaranteed prize pool.
If you’re not in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, PokerStars could still come to your state further down the line. If you want to play today though, there are still plenty of great alternatives.
Best PokerStars Alternatives for US Players
We recommend Ignition Poker as the best alternative. A lot of people prefer it to non-state run sites since they accept players from all 50 states. Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, ACR, Black Chip Poker and Intertops also rank highly. As state by state rollouts occur, we will continue to keep you updated on when PokerStars makes it to your state.
Can You Play PokerStars in the USA?
Real money online poker play on PokerStars is only available if you are physically in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. PokerStars will be in more US states soon though. West Virginia and Michigan are the current front-runners to join the party.
PokerStars, which also owns Full Tilt Poker, is currently owned by The Stars Group, formerly called Amaya Gaming Group and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. PokerStars is partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, and their main competition in the state is WSOP/888 and Borgata/PartyPoker. In Pennsylvania, they teamed up with FoxBet, which is the real-money wagering provided by FOX Sports.
While there’s online poker Delaware and Nevada, but PokerStars has yet to get a license in either state. If you do not live in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania, we recommend Ignition Poker or Betonline.ag. They are safe and trusted sites that service all 50 states. Check out our reviews for a comprehensive look at how each online poker site. We detail the most important factors to look at when picking an online poker room.
Make no mistake. Online poker is legal in the USA. It’s 100% legal for you to play. Don’t have to worry about getting arrested.
How Many Players on Pokerstars?
PokerStars remains the largest poker site on the internet with tens of thousands of players logging in weekly. PokerStars traffic is far superior to any other poker website and it controls over 50% of the market.
The sale of PokerStars has now changed the game in the US market. It is a prerequisite for any online casino that operates with a US license to also have or be partners with a US operated “land-based” casino. PokerStars partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. Unfortunately, PokerStars has struggled with its NJ-based traffic. On the bright side, Pennsylvania has been a traffic bonanza for PokerStars since it launched in late 2019.
PokerStars also made a massive deal with gigantic casino conglomerate Eldorado Resorts, which operates properties across 12 different states. The US government has to be pleased that PokerStars is playing ball and infusing the US market with plenty of cash.
When Will PokerStars Return to the USA?
It kind of already is. If you’re in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, just download the software. If you’re in another state, then you’ll have to wait. Regulated online poker has been moving pretty slow. Even then, some states that have legalized it haven’t let PokerStars in. That’s because they have another obstacle. Some important gaming groups in the USA see the brand as a bad actor because it operated without a license in the USA for years.
The brand is still incredibly popular around the world though. The site also paid over an estimated $850 million in fines because of Black Friday. It might take some time, but PokerStars will make its way back to the USA on a broader scale.
Good Faith Will Not Prevail?
While some US states have been reluctant to allow PokerStars back, it should be noted that the company bailed out tens of thousands of American poker players. Full Tilt famously didn’t have funds on hand to repay its players after Black Friday. PokerStars then bought Full Tilt and repaid all its players for millions and millions of dollars.
PokerStars was simply a better-run business and separated their player accounts from operating expenses. It was, therefore, an easy task for PokerStars to immediately pay back its players after they were forced out of the US market in 2011. PokerStars was also better at becoming a global poker business. Most of its player traffic came from outside the USA.
This act of good faith was on top of the hundreds of millions they paid out in penalties to US officials. It was an example of responsible gaming. As more and more casinos based in the USA secure their licenses to operate, PokerStars will likely be entering several of these state-regulated markets.
When Will I Be Able to Play PokerStars in my State?
We have in-depth real money online poker guides for many of the US states that are updated whenever there are changes to state legislation. Unfortunately, there’s no clear-cut guide to when online poker will be legalized in each US state. For now, it appears that progress will only occur at the state level and a federal online poker bill is still just a pipe dream.
Is Ignition Poker Legal In Usa
Some states have a higher chance of legalizing and regulating online poker in the near future, however. We keep close track of some of the more progressive states and try to give our readers some insight into which states could be closing in on legalization. You can take a deeper dive into your states specific laws in regards to PokerStars and all online poker laws with our state-by-state guides.
Online Poker USA Law State-by-State Guides
You can refer to the legal status of online poker in every US state here:
Alabama – Arizona – Arkansas – California – Colorado – Connecticut – Georgia – Idaho – Iowa – Kansas – Maine – Maryland – Massachusetts – Michigan – Minnesota – Mississippi – Montana – Nebraska – New Hampshire – New Mexico – North Carolina – North Dakota – Ohio – Oklahoma – Pennsylvania – Rhode Island – South Carolina – Tennessee – Vermont – West Virginia – Wyoming
The Entire History of PokerStars in the USA
PokerStars has a fascinating history in the online poker industry with a substantial portion of it taking place in the USA.
2000s
- Now a billion-dollar, publicly-traded company, PokerStars had rather humble beginnings.
- It began in the early 2000s as a Costa Rican company called Rational Enterprises that was majority-owned by Israeli-Canadian Isai Scheinberg.
- PokerStars was just one of many of the early real-money online poker operators including PartyPoker, Pacific Poker (Now 888poker) and Tropical Poker.
2003 – 2006
- PokerStars’ claim to fame came in 2003 when an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event 2003-2006 Las Vegas after qualifying on the site.
- Moneymaker was the first player to win the Main Event after qualifying online and helped create the so-called “poker boom” of the early 2000s.
- PokerStars quickly became a favorite amongst poker players for its secure deposits, reliable support team and booming cash games.
2006 – 2011
Is Poker Legal In Sc
- The poker boom was stifled early on when the US government passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that led to publicly-traded companies like PartyPoker getting forced to leave the US market altogether.
- UIGEA had the opposite effect on PokerStars because it was a privately-held company, it remained in the US market and quickly took the reins as the most popular online poker site in the world.
2011 – 2016
- The gravy train came to an end in 2011 when the Department of Justice seized the .com addresses of three online poker sites: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute/UltimateBet.
- Online poker players referred to the day as “Black Friday”. It would be years before PokerStars would be allowed to re-enter the US market.
2016 – Today
- PokerStars continued to flourish on the international market and was purchased by Amaya Gaming in a massive $4.9 billion deal in 2014. Subsequently the first officially licensed online poker sites in the USA start to pop up in 2014.
- New Jersey became the first state to allow PokerStars back in 2016.
- In late 2019 Pennsylvania follows suit and allows PokerStars to officially open its doors to players in the state.
Unfortunately, many other states remain a pipe dream and it will likely be decades before PokerStars is allowed to operate in the entirety of the USA.
The popularity of poker and the ease of playing online have made online poker rooms some of the most populated of all USA online gambling sites. This has made players question the legalities of online poker in the United States more than anything else. Some assert that, due to the skill required to play online poker, it is not held under the same laws as standard games of chance. Poker fans, legislators, and even some of the major gambling companies in the States all assert that online poker is legal, even if the Department of Justice, the FBI, and many other legislators feel that it isn't. This has sparked the great debate over whether online poker is in a grey area, whether it is legal, or whether it is illegal.
It is generally implied that, in a free country under a democratic government, that which is not specifically illegal is actually legal. There is no federal law that states 'online poker is legal,' leading many to believe that online gambling is in fact legal. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 'prohibits gambling businesses from knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law.' The UIGEA has not been successful, as poker players all over the Nation had continued to play this most famous game and enjoy all of the advantages there in. With some players turning online poker into their living, it came as a great upset when some of the major, reputable online poker rooms had been forced out of the American market.
Online poker has been targeted by the United States more than any other form of online gaming. Bank accounts, Internet domains and assets have been seized, CEOs and operators have been indicted, and players have been left without money. Visiting one of the gambling sites that had been seized will show that these gambling sites had been seized under the Illegal Gambling Business Act of 1970, which prohibits 'illegal gambling businesses,' with 'gambling' defined as including, but not being limited to, 'pool-selling, book making, maintaining slot machines, roulette wheels or dice tables, and conducting lotteries, policy, bolita or numbers games, or selling chances therein.' This does not expressly list poker, but the 'not limited to' clause could force poker to be included. Either way, those who are for poker are still arguing that this is complete nonsense.
So what does this all mean for the player? It means that there is always an element of risk with online poker that does not include the actual risk involved in gambling. If you played through Full Tilt or PokerStars on April 15th, than you already know what this risk is - the risk of the government seizing the funds and assets controlled by these online poker rooms. No players were indicted or arrested, so it isn't like there was a great, irreplaceable lost, but there is still the inconvenience. Players will ultimately receive their money, so the risk can be worth it - especially if you're a good player. Just to repeat, however, there is no risk of getting in trouble with the federal government if you decide to play online poker.
On a state-by-state basis, there are some states that have specifically and expressly made online poker illegal. Washington state is the prime example of this. In Washington State, online poker is a Class C Felony, a felony which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, carrying with it a possible fine of $10,000 dollars per violation - which could include every hand played. Washington State is not alone in their decision, though no other state has received the same negative attention. In fact, even before the major online poker rooms were forced from operating in this state, they had pulled from the Washington market entirely.
In reality it is fairly safe to say that you have very little, if anything to worry about when it comes to the legal issues surrounding online gambling. The federal laws have become little more than an irksome complication that has been hovering like a dark cloud over the heads of most online poker players. It has not been turned into a criminal activity for the players, on a federal scale at least, so ultimately online poker rooms are technically legal - though this cannot be said for every single state in the Union.
One of the recent developments regarding the world of online poker, is it's connection with gambling. The question at hand, is actually whether or not gambling at a poker room is considered gambling, and not a skill. In fact, a judge in the state of New York recently ruled that poker is most closely related to a game of skill, rather than a game of chance. As you can imagine, all of the poker enthusiasts in the United States is hoping that this will one day be the catalysts which actually declassifies poker as a game of chance and under the umbrella of gambling. The move to a game of skill could have huge implications on the industry, and create the doorway for legal online poker sites operating in the U.S., by players in the United States, for players in the United States.
More about legal online poker in the USA