Online Poker Regulations in the USA

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that was introduced in 2006 made American players select U.S. poker sites. Because of the bill a lot of poker rooms took a decision to ban all players from the United States. Thus, the number of poker sites available has shrunk.

When the US Senate implemented a new legislation concerning money transfers to online gambling operators (UIGEA) in October 2006, USA poker has changed. It is clear, that the US poker sites and their personnel have an intention to prevent the emergence of legal problems that can arouse if they continue their American business.

Several gaming CEOs were arrested by US authorities that made this a burning issue for everybody involved. But despite the fact, some poker sites keep on their business still inviting US players and making their sites accessible for them. Among them such sites as Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker. Such site as PlayersOnlyPoker is for US players only. These sites are called “US poker rooms”.

The US poker sites differ from others in a way that they allow only US poker and do not provide online casino gaming.

It should be said that many US poker rooms offer their services to non-US players too. Thus, you can find there representatives of European, Asian countries, as well as players from South America and Africa.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 was a means of restraining for many online gaming enthusiasts. Even though the world of online gambling was regarded as a free market enterprise but it only seemed so. In fact, it was a Republican Congress that passed the bill in order to protect Port Security.

Now there is a new bill to be passed in order to regulate online poker and skill games. The bill is called “Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act of 2009” underlines how significant poker is for American culture and identity and strikes the fact that regulation of online poker will make the game safer and more fair.

Earlier this year Barney Frank passed somewhat similar bill that was aimed at regulating online poker. But that bill was spreading on online casinos and games of chance like lottery, bingo and so on. The present bill by Robert Menedez targets skill games and regards poker together with chess, bridge and backgammon. However, both bills eliminate sports betting. It should be mentioned that the Poker Players Alliance welcomed the bill.

Online poker regulations are to prevent players from any bias in the game, as well as collusions and all the rest kinds of cheating. It will only exclude the attempts of those under age to gamble online, as the bill will set age limit to gamers that will be 21. The bill also presupposes the tax percentages to be charged from the gaming sites. Thus 5% of all U.S. deposits will have to be paid to the federal government and another 5% to the local authority.

The funny thing is that quite a few professional internet poker geeks are moving to the United Kingdom as it’s 100% tax-free to win any kind of gambling-money. We’re all looking forward to seeing high-profile players making the move to England – and I can’t wait to see Tom Dwan move to London to save a couple million a year!

Tags: and Enforcement Act of 2009, Consumer Protection, Gambling, Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Law, Legislation, Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act