In the United States, there are limits to online poker. In many countries around the world, online poker is legal and regulated by the government, much like casinos in the United States. In the United States, however, online poker has been limited by legislation opposing online betting despite many bills introduced that would allow the online gambling.

Online Poker “May” Be Illegal

In 2005, North Dakota attempted to legalize and regulate online poker with strict limits on where the operators could be located. The goal was to gain terrific amounts of revenue from the online card rooms. However, the bill, which would have been the first of its kind in the United States, was defeated when the United States Department of Justice sent a letter to North Dakota letting them know that online poker “may” be illegal based on the United States Wire Act. This is still a source of much discussion among legal entities.

The Legalese of Online Poker

In 2006, President Bush signed into effect a bill that greatly affected online poker. A provision of the bill is known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). According to the UIGEA, "unlawful internet gambling" means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by means of the internet where such bet is unlawful under any law in the State in which the bet is initiated, received, or otherwise made.

In laymen terms, this means you cannot use American banks to correspond with online poker sites. After the law passed, many of the largest poker houses in the United States closed up shop to focus on their overseas divisions. Still, many poker website still allow American players, but can not deal with American banks.

To get around this rule, players use online wallets, or e-wallets to handle the payment required for the sites. This system bypasses the banks by transferring money from the bank into the e-wallet and then onto the site in question. This is essential as banks and credit card companies won’t allow wire transfers to gambling and online poker sites, and your winnings can’t be sent via banks either.

Playing Poker in the US

It is still permissible to play poker in the United States if you are careful to fund your accounts in the right way. To avoid additional legal hassles, most poker houses have made their United States sites into poker tutorial or school websites where you can learn to play poker without any betting involved. The corresponding site does allow betting, but may be located outside of the United States for ease of use.

Pending Legislation

There always seems to be legislation pending that would allow the United States to legalize and then regulate (and gain proceeds from) online poker. Thus far, the legislation has not passed, but there is always hope that it will in the future.