Texas Hold 'Em online legality and websites?

Question

Could someone please explain to me exactly what the deal is with gambling online in America? What what I understand, it's illegal, yet it's quite large. How is it that so many people get away with it? Or is there some sort of loophole that lets people gamble online without being prosecuted?

Also, could you list some good gambling, and non-gambling poker sites? Thank you.

Answer 1

It is not illegal to gamble online if you are a US citizen.  The anti-gambling act just made it harder to deposit funds with casinos.  Like others have mentioned you deposit your money through a third party such as ePassporte.  Some alternatives can be found at:  http://www.online-gambling-made-easy.com...

Answer 2

I dont have all of your details but I do have some input.   I used to play at Party Poker .com  ( I loved it).



  However I would estimate 2 years ago Bush banned online (cash) gambling within the US. ( Due to the fact that you could be funding terrorism or something if you lost money,  Secondly it was way to hard for the government to keep trask of winnings and such)  Which at that time I had a mere 400$ in an account.  I was still able to play cash games with the money that I had in the account however was unable to withdrawal the money or deposit more money into the account.  So how people are doing it now, I have no idea.  As far as legally, They definetly are not doing it legally.    

Loop Hole.. doubt it.  And if I was to guess I would think people who are gambling online are #1 not citizens, #2 have a bank account outside the US which they are probably using.  as that is how they are restricting it - Bank accounts / citizenship.

hope that helps..

And I still play at PartyPoker  but just in play money games / tourneys

Wowza I stand corrected - I never knew that it was still legal.  awww should have never told me this LOL   great thread

Answer 3

Sen. Frisk added a rider on the Ports Safety / Security Act making it illegal for U.S. financial institutions to transfer money to and from offshore gambling sites.  They tried to make online gambling illegal the year before, but could not get the votes because many states allow you to buy lotto tickets online (which would have been illegal under the act) and make paramutual bets on line (horses and dogs), the measure failed.  

Most sites allow american players, it is getting the money there that is a pain, but it can be, and is being, done.  Poker stars lets you get a debit card from them and load with that, there is also epassporte.  Once you establish a method, it is easy to get your winnings.  One piece of advice if you win alot, I wouldn't transfer more than a few thousand at a time to your bank, I got hit big time by the IRS last year over that.  If it was illegal, I would have owed more than just taxes I imagine.

I would check your state laws to make a determination whether it is illegal in your jurisdiction, there are only a small number of states where it has been addressed and made illegal.

Good luck.

Answer 4

The online poker in USA is legal. THere is no loophole. The only problem is the banks dont let you deposit into poker sites. For that reason you use epassporte which is like paypal to deposit into sites like http://bettingwise.hit.bg/FulltiltPoker....

Then withdraw in the same way, its legal and comfortable

Answer 5

You can't directly give an online casino your money but you can give it to a third party and they put it in, epassporte and neteller are 2 examples. I play at dollar4dime.com its got so many different options and a good bonus at the mo as well.  Hope this helps, good luck.