Is Online Poker Legal?
Is online poker legal? In one word, yes.
The Bill passed last September against online gaming sites is aimed at online payment processors and NOT online poker players.
The U.S. government is trying to make it very difficult for American poker players to make deposits into online poker rooms. They think if they take away the deposit methods then American poker players will not be able to deposit money into their online poker accounts and won’t be able to play.
What the U.S. government fails to realize is that there are many options still available for American poker players to make deposits and more will be available. Although Neteller will no longer accept Americans to deposit or withdraw in and from online poker websites, you still have many secure options.
Click here for the official Neteller FAQ statements regarding their position with American accounts and online gaming sites.
Don’t let the U.S. government push you around and tell you what you cannot do. 90% of polled Americans are against this new Bill and yet the government is not listening.
The U.S. government even passed the Bill by attaching it to a completely different Bill, the Port Security Bill. The government knew that the gambling Bill would not stand a chance on its own so they attached it to a Bill that was guaranteed to pass.
This sounds like prohibition and Americans should speak out. Let your voice be heard and help let the 80,000,000.00 American poker players do what they want to do with their own private time.
Speak out and let your voice be heard that you are against this Bill. Tell your political officials, newspapers, radio stations and TV stations know that you are against this Bill.
Here is a link regarding the Bill.
Here are the official statements from PokerStars and FullTilt Poker regarding their position on serving American poker players:
PokerStars
“As you are probably aware, the United States Congress recently enacted the Safe Port Act which contains provisions relating to Internet gambling.
PokerStars has received extensive expert advice from within and outside the U.S. which concluded that these provisions do not alter the U.S. legal situation with respect to our offering of online poker games. Furthermore it is important to emphasize that the Act does not in any way prohibit you from playing online poker.
Therefore, our business continues as before - open to players worldwide including the US. You may play on our site as you did prior to the Act.
PokerStars believes that poker is a game of skill enjoyed by millions of players and we remain committed to providing you a safe and fun environment in which to play. We value your loyalty to PokerStars, and look forward to continuing to serve you with the best online poker experience, as we have for the past five years, six billion hands, and 40 million tournaments.
PokerStars Management”
FullTilt Poker
“The new U.S. legislation does not in any way attempt to criminalize the act of you playing online poker. By playing online at Full Tilt Poker, you are not breaking any U.S. Federal laws”.
“The passage of the new Internet Gaming law will not have any impact on your day-to-day experience at Full Tilt Poker. We will provide all of our players, everywhere in the world, with full access to all of our games and tournaments”.
PokerStars, FullTilt Poker and Absolute Poker all gladly welcome players from around the world, including Americans!
So don’t let this Bill scare you off from playing online poker. Play online poker, it’s not illegal, so go out there and have fun and make some money too!
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