People in the United States who had been hardcore poker fans for a number of years found the recent legislation passed midway through the first decade of the 2000’s to be very intimidating. After all, ‘wire fraud’ was the word being slung around and since that’s a Federal crime, most people are not interested in getting anywhere near that. A huge amount of bad information was circulating not only in the media, but among poker fans in the online poker community. Things looked grim and a lot of poker players had the idea that they were putting themselves in serious risk of not only legal trouble, but financial ruin, if they kept playing. Many sites closed their online doors to US players and the whole situation looked quite dark for a while.
Now, after things have settled, we should take a serious look at how safe online poker is for US players. What most people do not realize about the current legislation is that it was actually designed to punish banks and casinos that were funneling money to offshore sources and not to punish players.
There are a handful of states that do not allow for online gambling, but even they are not going to be able to do much to an actual player in this current climate. In reality, the casinos and those who operate them are the ones that are not allowed to be doing business inside the US. Since US laws apply only to citizens of the US, casinos in other countries can do business as usual and work with US residents if they choose to. Payment services, also, are free to work with US poker players and poker sites. Providing the games is what is not permitted in the US right now, but recent legislation in July 2010 may be about to change that.
If you worry that you are putting yourself at risk by playing poker online in the US then you need to understand that no one is in danger. The Poker Players Alliance is a legal fund that you can join for a few dollars per year and they will bring the full force of their organization, which includes politicians in Washington DC, to bear for you if you ever face legal action – which remains incredibly unlikely. They will defend you even if you are not a member, but having access to their news is a good idea. Checking out your state regulations is also smart and a quick Google search can help you with that.
The bottom line today is that online poker is thriving in the US; players make poker deposits and cash out their winnings on a regular basis. The only detail you should be careful with is reporting your earnings at tax time. Speak with your tax preparer for advice on this subject, but you should discover that things are easier to deal with that what you might have been led to believe.
If you are from the US and want to try a poker room we recommend Full Tilt Poker. They offer a great poker software, many players and awesome promotions. Check out: Full Tilt Poker bonus.