Comments on: Is Playing Poker Online Illegal For Players Or Those Running The Site?

By: DarkWolf

DarkWolf — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:15:06 +0000

You don’t have to worry about being arrested for playing poker on-line if you live in the USA. Some states have laws against it but don’t actively prosecute players. The focus is on punishing the sites were people go to play and not the player. But because on-line poker and gambling sites are located outside the USA they are nearly impossible to prosecute. Which is why the new law focuses on the banks and other financial institutions in America that players use to transfer funds to their player accounts. American financial institutions caught facilitating transfers to poker sites face civil and criminal penalties under the new law.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:53:51 +0000

Neither , It is illegal for the banks to transfer $$ to gaming sites.

By: Sally S

Sally S — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:40:31 +0000

The legal action will come against the websites not the players. The legislation does not target the players just financial institutions and websites. If you check out Absolute Poker’s statement here http://www.ultimatepokerbankroll.com/art… you can see the defense a couple poker sites are planning to use, and the insistence that players are doing nothing wrong and that the sites will be OK since they are offshore.. (I’d link to the actual text of the bill, but the whole thing is over 200 pages long!)
So unless your state has a law against gambling online you won’t be prosecuted. You can see that in some of the sites statements as a couple of them are not allowing players from states such as Washington but will allow players from other states with no laws on the books.

By: killerle

killerle — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:56:39 +0000

no it’s not illegal but Bush signed a bill saying the gov’t aint gonna fund them no more

By: Father Ashley

Father Ashley — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:55:06 +0000

I’ve done a full article reviewing the details of the so-called “Internet Gambling Ban”. The page includes a link to all sites allowing American players.http://www.church-of-texas-holdem.com/on…
There IS no ban! The Act Bush signed changes nothing. DON’T PANIC!!
The Church of Texas Holdem:http://www.church-of-texas-holdem.com/in…

By: george d

george d — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:18:18 +0000

it depends on if you are gambling or not. if you are then yes

By: medl_98

medl_98 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:19:12 +0000

US states that have legislation in place that ban online gambling can, in fact, punish the online gambler. The punishment depends on the state, so check the legislation in your area.
Enforcement of the legislation against the online gambler is a different matter. Most states that I have read about say that rounding up online gamblers is currently not a priority.
Cheers!
Robert