Legal US Poker Sites

Ultimate Poker is the only legal and regulated online poker room in the US. It launched on April 30. 2013. Ultimate Poker is only available to players that are physically located within Nevada at the time of play. The World Series of Poker and Treasure Island hope to have their real money online poker rooms live during the Summer of 2013.

Delaware and New Jersey have also passed online gambling regulations. Neither state has gone live yet, but both hope to be online during the Fall of 2013. In addition to online poker, Delaware and New Jersey will also offer casino games. This includes slots, video poker and table games. The Delaware Lottery will operate online gambling in that state, while Atlantic City casinos will control the industry in New Jersey.

US State Online Poker Laws

Several other states have debated online poker in the past few years. California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Washington DC have all seen online poker make its way through some portion of the legislative process. None of these states have ultimately passed online poker regulations, although the Washington DC City Council passed an online gambling bill that was later repealed.

Federal Government Passing Online Poker Legislation

The federal government has attempted to repeal some parts of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The UIGEA was passed in 2006 as a rider to the unrelated Safe Port Act. It went into law without any debate from the US Senate. Attempts to repeal the UIGEA or exempt online poker have been made by Texas Representative Joe Barton in 2010 and by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2012. Both of these attempts failed, including the most recent Reid/Kyl bill. This has left the legal US online poker discussion up to the states.

Online poker and other forms of online gambling are certain to be a hot topic in many state legislatures in the coming year. This is especially true with the new Department of Justice interpretation of the Wire Act. Check back often for updates on legal online poker news.