Is online poker legal ... in your jurisdiction?

aceup21 · Mar 18, 2009

Hmm

Well i live in memphis tn but im like right on the edge of mississippi
LOL. i can go down to the second redlight from my house and im in
mississippi and i know gambling is legal in mississippi. So im not sure if
online poker is legal but i do know ive been doing it Forever LOL
Anyways TN does have a Poker room in Memphis i just found out.
so im not to sure if its illegal in tn or not.

wageronme · Mar 18, 2009

I was just now able to get a membership with a pay by the month site. So I think it would not be legal here in Ohio. But I also doubt that anything will ever be enforced. They hadf these "casinos" here in toledo a while. They where games of skill but the state said they also was too random. So they closed them also. I think it really is about tax dollars. If they got a cut everything would be O.K.

carjaw · Mar 19, 2009

An argument put forward in the US to ban Internet gambling is because it was more addictive than conventional gambling - this argument has taken a while to play out - but i have read 2 studies this week that confirm Internet gambling is more addictive (one by the 'legendary' Professor Mark Griffiths 1 March 2009). Even the World Trade Organisation confirmed that the US ban on Internet gambling is illegal - and discriminatory against other members of the WTO - so going back to my original comments - it really is very confusing ...

Yirlastcall · Mar 19, 2009

i would say its legal because your putting your own money out to bet like you would at a casino, so why would it be illegal

nevadanick · Mar 22, 2009

carjaw said:
An argument put forward in the US to ban Internet gambling is because it was more addictive than conventional gambling - this argument has taken a while to play out - but i have read 2 studies this week that confirm Internet gambling is more addictive (one by the 'legendary' Professor Mark Griffiths 1 March 2009). Even the World Trade Organisation confirmed that the US ban on Internet gambling is illegal - and discriminatory against other members of the WTO - so going back to my original comments - it really is very confusing ...

I'm not sure it is any MORE addicting, it's just available to a massive number of players who may not live close enough to a live gambling facility to become 'addicted'.

States that operate or participate in lotteries understand this very well. That's why they put ticket outlets in every conceivable location. They WANT players addicted to the lotto.

CostyBigRoyal09 · Mar 22, 2009

I live in romania and here I think online poker is legal in the U.S. ... I do not know how it is

... but surely you learn here!

nevadanick · Apr 2, 2009

carjaw said:
Just to let anyone / everyone know - the responsible gambling features survey has received 402 responses in the last 50 days. Some interesting results but I would pre-empty the conclusions just yet! Just a reminder - in the UK - poker is classified as gambling - and therefore part of my study! Thank you to anyone / everyone who has been able to take part. For anyone / everyone interested - the survey is live until mid July 2009. Many thanks as always.

Maybe a 'bump' here will help 'bump' that 402 count up ...

www.effectiveresponsiblegamblingfeatures.blogspot. com

-----------------------------------------------------

carjaw · Apr 2, 2009

You are a star! Shining bright!

BelgoSuisse · Apr 7, 2009

A short update on the French situation.

There's a law currently under discussion that would both "open" online gambling and introduce so called "responsible gambling" legislation.

The highlights are

- For sport betting and the likes, a tax a 7.5% on bets + a maximum redistribution to players of 85%.

- For poker, 2% tax on all bets being wagered. That includes every bet made in cash games. Uncapped.

In both cases, it's a huge increase in rake compared to international standards and it will quite likely make the non micro games unprofitable even for the best players. Especially if this is implemented by separating the French market from the rest of the world so the fishes pay the same tax too. In essence, it turns poker into blackjack, where a skilled player looses slower than a fish, but either way you can't beat the house.

If this gets implemented, i'll seriously consider emigration.

carjaw · Apr 8, 2009

So does France classify poker as a form of gambling ?

BelgoSuisse · Apr 8, 2009

carjaw said:
So does France classify poker as a form of gambling ?

It's not easy to translate your question in French, tbh.

Poker is considered a "jeu de cercle" (a game of circle). It's subject to a very different legislation from casino games, lotteries and from sports betting.

For instance, the proposed new legislation would allow people to play poker online and bet on horses and sports (the mutual kind, not at fixed odds), but not onlines lotteries and casino games.

nevadanick · Apr 24, 2009

carjaw said:
So does France classify poker as a form of gambling ?

BelgoSuisse said:
It's not easy to translate your question in French, tbh.

Poker is considered a "jeu de cercle" (a game of circle). It's subject to a very different legislation from casino games, lotteries and from sports betting.

For instance, the proposed new legislation would allow people to play poker online and bet on horses and sports (the mutual kind, not at fixed odds), but not onlines lotteries and casino games.

Part of the problem, worldwide, is that no one has yet put forth a definition of 'gambling' that would apply to all countries of the world. In many cases, I think individual 'gambling' laws country-to-country would be in contradiction to each other when examined in detail.

Tom1559 · Apr 24, 2009

Thankfully there is no problem with online poker in the UK although a lot of credit card companies do not allow you to lodge funds using their cards.

fokus2k3 · Apr 25, 2009

I have a question... Iowa says gambling age is 21, it doesn't mention anything about online poker. Say you area 18-20, Here is one of the terms on pokerstars website..." (iii) individuals connecting to the Site from jurisdictions from which it is illegal to do so. PokerStars is not able to verify the legality of the Service in each jurisdiction and it is the User's responsibility to verify such matter." Would an 18-20 year old be legal to play online poker in iowa?

Tygran · Apr 25, 2009

BelgoSuisse said:
they don't need to "get around it". The ban is not enforced in any way. Enforcing it would actually be against EU law, so players would just need to move their case up to the European courts and get a get out of jail free card.

European laws says that a country can make gambling illegal if it thinks it's best for its people, but then it must also make its own state-own lotteries illegal. Otherwise, gambling must be open to competition.

So if protecting problem gamblers was indeed the reason to restrict online gambling, the solution would be very easy: make gambling illegal altogether. of course that's not the real reason. The real point is tax revenues.

As an American... it's embarrassing how much sense this makes in comparison.

WEC · Apr 26, 2009

nevadanick said:
If you think it is unclear, you should LIVE here. ...

A few individual states have legislated that online gambling (including poker) is illegal. You should receive some replies from those who live in those select states.

There is no 'Federal' or national legislation ruling it 'illegal' What they did with their effort was to attack the financial institutions that would be involved in transfering, receiving or providing any of the actual monies involved.

See ... https://www.cardschat.com/forum/general-poker-13/new-uigea-regulations-what-you-can-133523/

Dorkus Malorkus said:
It's legal to play online poker anywhere in the US except Washington state and maybe Kentucky, I think. I don't recall any instances of anyone being arrested in either for playing online poker (or indeed "internet gambling") though.

It's illegal under the UIGEA for banks or payment processors to transfer money from US citizens to online 'gambling' service providers, which is why some payment processors such as Neteller closed their doors to US residents a while back.

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/general-poker-13/online-poker-legal-illegal-149515/post-1163322.html

Just to add....The Wire Act is the Federal Law that most opponnents of Online Gambling use to state that it is illegal. If it was deemed to be "legal" then all the sites that currently do not allow US players would have no reason to do so. Except they are afraid to be arrested themselves (see Party Poker, Neteller, et al) or run afoul of US laws. Beleive me, these sites are not in the US market because they believe it is Illegal under current laws.

Once <praying> the Obama Administration and allies take care of this problem, these sites will come streaming back--as well as some decent money transfer sites like Neteller

SO PLEASE...all US players join the PPA, write your congressman, Senator, and even call their office, so we can continue to play poker and we can get more choice once all the sites come flying back to us. Don't be lazy, Washington DC only moves when they feel the heat!!!!!

shinedown.45 · Apr 26, 2009

carjaw said:
I have been going through many articles about online poker being legal or not with reference to the US - and I was wondering what forum members think or know. In the UK under the Gambling Act 2005 - online poker is legal but classified as gambling - in the category of a game of skill. But it seems that the situation in the US is very unclear ....

I live in Winnipeg, Mb, Canada and live public poker games that are not held in a casino can be held by anyone provided a portion of the proceeds go to charity

DravenUmbra · May 5, 2009

The fact of the matter is, it's not the governments choice where the citizens money is spent, well, in the states anyway. I wouldnt know about other countries, but under the Constitution of The United States of America, we were given freedom from all who oppress us, yet the govenment comes along and says "Hey Hey Hey, thats completely a case by case basis." It's a totalitarian dictatorship and they should NEVER have any reason to tell us where we spend our money.

darthur90 · May 5, 2009

I live in Italy. Here they banned all the major poker rooms like....Full Tilt, UltimateBet, Carbon, Pokerstars, Titan , Bodog... instead they created some italian poker rooms like Gioco Digitale, Lottomatica and others....and Pokerstars made a special version for italian residents called pokerstars.it. on all three rooms you can only play Tournaments(SNG,MTT), no cash games at all, ..that kinda suxx but hey... what can you do...?

CardConnoisseur · May 5, 2009

I personally don't live in the US and poker online is every bit legal where I live. Although, from what I understand, in the US, it's only illegal for the payment processors to be working with online gambling. So really, as long as you can find a way to go around with what you do, you should be fine. It's your payment processor who might be in trouble.

nevadanick · Jun 10, 2009

This survey will close soon (according to the author).

Last chance to respond ....

Thanks to those who did !!! ...

Bumpity, bump. See the link in the Opening Post.

undone · Jun 11, 2009

i live in Tennessee also and i have no clue if its illegal... i know that when someone from our state makes it big we usually support them, moneymaker thank you, so i would say it is legal... all the websites say that you cannot operate a gambling institution or gamble on something that is given to chance... so yet again the argument of poker not being a game of chance comes into play... i would say its legal.. but im not a lawyer...

Ecomdan · Jun 12, 2009

I'm in the Philippines... I'm not sure but I think technically online poker is illegal. There's a corporation here call PAGCOR (Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp) and they have to license all the cardrooms and casinos... any games running without their approval are illegal... so I guess that could apply to online poker. But they haven't stopped me yet!

Although on some sites I notice that the Philippines is listed as a banned country (not tilt, stars or UB though so thats fine)

wagon596 · Jun 12, 2009

VET

I'm an old time vet of the U. S. Navy,, I didn"t serve this country to let somebody tell me what, when and where I spend or invest my money,,,These people need to wake up and figure out how to tax the rake these poker sites make,,, of course they would have to let them in the U.S. Which I've heard they (poker sites) would be more than willing to do.
Freedom,,not so sure about.

Take Care

Is online poker legal ... in your jurisdiction?

aceup21

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wageronme

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carjaw

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Yirlastcall

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nevadanick

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CostyBigRoyal09

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carjaw

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BelgoSuisse

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Tom1559

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