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Online poker and online gambling, in general has had a tumultuous history in the United States. The gambling obsessed population of the US was responsible for the vast majority of online poker revenues worldwide until a government crackdown put an enormous dent in those numbers.

Today, even in an unregulated market, the United States still makes up about 10 percent of a massive $33 billion dollar online gambling market. Although, online poker still has a way to go in the US, there has been a giant shift in policy over the last several years. To understand the path where online poker is headed, we first have to look at the history of the game.

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Early Adopters

The first online poker site in the world was established in 1998. Planet Poker was the first site onto the scene in what would eventually become a multi-billion dollar industry. They grew a small player base almost immediately. Paradise Poker then emerged in 1999 and immediately became a rival. As the new millennium approached more and more real money poker sites began popping up looking to cash in on this newest craze.

The Poker Boom

The number of players continued to rise each year since the game’s inception, and there was a long list of sites vying for market share. Party Poker emerged as the world’s online poker leader, with other sites competing for second place.

The years of 2003 to 2006, were regarded as the “Poker Boom.” Up until about 2007, the number of online poker players each year doubled in size. The 2003 WSOP Main Event win of Chris Moneymaker and the movie Rounders became part of American culture. ESPN televised nearly every event of the WSOP tournament, and it looked as if the rise of online poker could never be stopped.

The UIGEA

As all this money was heading offshore due to online poker, many members of the US government became concerned with the issue of online gambling. Though Congress had tried to ban it years earlier, a measure in late-2006 would become successful and rock the landscape of the online poker world across the globe.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in the late hours September, 29^th, 2006 and was added as a rider by the House of Representatives by a vote of 409-2 and by the Senate by unanimous consent. The bill was signed into law by President Bush, and the first shots were fired from the Department of Justice against real money online poker. The bill did not criminalize the act of gambling online, but instead went after foreign operators who were offering their services to US citizens. While citizens who gambled online from the United States were safe from any criminal repercussions, the DOJ had their eyes set on the industry’s biggest sites and their executives.

Almost overnight, the industry changed. Many top online gambling operators pulled out of the US market within a matter of days and even more dropped out in the weeks after the bill was passed. Party Poker, the industry leader at the time, left the US market, along with several other top European-based sites. Any publicly traded company was essentially forced to stop accepting US citizens because their shareholders could be charged criminally for the deeds of the company.

Though the regulations and the laws surrounding the UIGEA had not yet even been written, the bill’s passage scared many of the top online poker rooms in the world out of the US market. This created a void in the market and the title for the largest poker room in the world was once again up for grabs.

Even with the threat of jail time hanging over their heads, it was easy to see why operators continued to accept customers from the United States. The online poker in the US was still multi-hundred million dollar industry. Two sites emerged as front runners after Party Poker exited, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

The poker market was still more than viable in the United States, but players did take a few hits along the way. Popular e-wallets, such as Neteller and Moneybookers stop servicing US citizens, as well. It became harder to fund accounts and player numbers were not increasing at even close to the level they did during the poker boom.

All the while, no one knew how serious the Federal government was in regards to online gambling. Yes, they outlawed it, which caused some sites to leave the market immediately, but was it a true priority of law enforcement?

Black Friday

After years of competition between PokerStars and Full Tilt, the US government, more specifically, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York came down hard on the three largest online poker sites servicing US players.

On April 15, 2011, a day that was dubbed as “Black Friday” for online poker players the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against the owners and operators of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus Network. The crimes all centered around UIGEA violations as the government froze assets and seized bank accounts. Many online payment processors and banks were also indicted for processing illegal gambling transactions.

Immediately, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker left the US market. The government allowed each company to pay players their current balances a week after the indictment was handed down. PokerStars paid these balances back to play within two weeks, but there were plenty of issues with Full Tilt Poker and Cereus.

Fast-forward to two years later, and Cereus’ customers from Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet have almost no chance of being repaid. Full Tilt surprisingly turned out to be an insolvent company, and was bailed out by PokerStars in a deal brokered by the US government. Full Tilt’s US client base is expected to be paid back in full by the first quarter of 2014.

The Aftermath

Not only did this move tie up hundreds of millions of bankrolls held by US players, but it brought the online poker industry to its knees. In less than 24 hours, the two largest sites in the world pulled out of the US online poker market.

While playing online poker as a US citizen was still legal, player confidence took a massive hit and all of a sudden people were worried about the safety on their bankrolls when they played online. Nevertheless, online poker was still far from dead in the United States.

Unregulated Market

Today, online poker revenues are still strong. While the number are not near the levels they were when the game exploding was during the early to mid-2000s, few would argue with that there are not still plenty of excellent options for US online poker players.

There are strong VIP & rewards programs available, and deposit bonuses galore. No Limit Hold’em is the preferred game of choice, but Pot Limit Omaha has a strong following, as well. The best action takes place during the evening hours, but there is action around the clock.

Black Friday didn’t kill the online poker industry in the US, but it put a sizeable dent in player numbers across the board. However, one decent thing that came out of the seizures and indictments was that the issue is now on the forefront in Washington.

The Wire Act

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In December 2011, the Justice Department reinterpreted the Wire Act of 1961. The longstanding law was always thought to be applicable to all forms of online gambling, but just before the end of 2011, the DOJ stated that the law only applied to online sports betting, and not casino and poker games.

This was a massive shift of opinion, one that spawned legislative action across a number of states. Currently, Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey have some combination of online poker and real money online casino games legal in their states on an intrastate level.

Regulated Market and Future

As I mentioned above, several states have begun to offer online gambling to their residents and even more are expected to pass laws in 2014. However, offshore sites are still currently the most viable choice for poker players across the country. Most state regulated rooms currently do not have the liquidity to support a strong poker ecosystem. Though, this will almost certainly change in the coming years.

This sets up an interesting showdown between offshore gambling sites and regulated entities of the states and perhaps the Federal government if congress legalizes online poker nationally. While the latter is still a long shot, it would create a compelling showdown between offshore sites and state approved licensees.

Regardless, the outlook for online poker in the states has not looked this good since the Poker Boom. One must remember that we have yet to enjoy a full 15 years of online poker worldwide. The game is still in its infancy. For the first time in years, the future looks bright for US poker players.

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About The Author: Joseph Falchetti has been part of the online poker world in some form for the past 10 years. An avid online poker player, Joe was a professional player for seven years before transitioning into a part-time role as an online gambling writer. Having lived through the UIGEA and Black Friday as a pro player, he knows the poker world inside and out.

Connect with the author via:Google Plus LinkedIn

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There has been so much confusion and misinformation over poker sites in the United States it is entirely understandable that many people are confused. In some ways, you get the impression that this is the outcome that many legislators were hoping for because it has certainly caused a lot of potential US poker players to shy away from playing online poker games and tournaments.

It is very important to be aware that it is not illegal to play online poker games when you are in the United States. It is also crucial to be aware that individual states may have a different opinion about the legality of online poker, so there is always a need to check out state laws but as for a country-wide ban on poker, it doesn’t exist.

Much of the confusion can be found in the fact that a legislation change was introduced regarding payments. This meant that increased pressure was placed on preventing payments being made from banks that went to online gaming institutions. This meant that many online gaming sites, including poker sites, decided it was no longer in their best business interests to provide services for US players and withdrew from the market.

This has led to the situation where many people believed that it became illegal for US poker players to play online. It hasn’t but there is a need to be smart about playing online.

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Playing United States Online Poker For Real Money

Even though poker can be a game that is fun to play, there is no getting away from the fact it can be a lot more enjoyable when you are playing for real money. The psychology of playing poker for real money is very much different from playing for free or fun, which means that some players will miss out if there is not money at stake.

All of the recommended sites above provide real money poker options and there are a number of incentives for choosing a particular site. There is definitely a need to find the poker bonuses that are right for you and again, it is good that there is such an element of choice open to US poker players.

You should be aware that managing your bankroll is important if you want success when playing poker and getting a good bonus can really help when you play real money poker.

How Do USA Poker Players Deposit?

With their being a number of real money poker options to choose from, players have to consider the different deposit methods that are available to them. It has already been pointed out that the number of deposit methods open to US poker players are limited compared to what used to be available but there are still a number of options available to choose from. Even the UIGEA has not been able to block or limit every deposit method, so why not have a look at the following options.

Visa Card: Using a Visa card to fund your online poker accounts are the number one choice for the majority of poker players in the US. Of all the different methods available to players, Visa is the one that is most commonly accepted and it seems to have provided the most consistency with regards acceptance rates.

MasterCard: Given that the MasterCard option is similar to the Visa option, you would also expect this to be a popular choice. It is certainly an option that many people choose but it seems as though there are more difficulties associated with this card than with Visa. MasterCard is a good option to have but it may not be your first choice for depositing funds.

Western Union: It is always good to have variety with your deposit options and this is definitely the case when it comes to Western Union. You can use this method online but you also have the option to fund your account from any Western Union store. This means that players can use cash to fund their online poker playing, which is certainly a good option. Players should be aware that Western Union charge a fee for providing this service but if it is your only chance to play online poker, many players will accept this fee.

After you have deposited funds, hopefully you will need to think about withdrawing funds too. Unsurprisingly, depositing funds is more straightforward than getting your hands on your money and it is important you check the withdrawal methods and terms & conditions for every site. No matter the good points of a site, if it doesn’t let you get your hands on your money in a way that suits you, it is not a good site for you.

The Role of the UIGEA And USA Poker Sites

These changes came about after the introduction of the UIGEA and it is their role that has caused so much confusion and consternation for US poker players. The UIGEA came into being as part of the Port Security Act and its main focus was on the shut-down that came about on the US banking system. The UIGEA was behind the legislation that made it illegal for banks in the US to process any payment that was being made to a gaming site. This is where poker players struggled to find ways to pay and play online.

It is important to make it clear that the UIGEA has never attempted to make online poker illegal for US players but as is so often the case in law, this may be viewed by some as semantics. Making it so difficult to fund payments to an online poker account definitely makes it harder for players to play and it certainly takes away much of the incentive or enjoyment that can be gleaned from playing online poker.

However, there are still online poker options for US poker players to choose from. Yes, there are no longer as many payment methods available to choose from but if you are a US based poker player, you will still be able to find some good online poker options.

Poker Sites That Are Legal For US Players

The fact that there are a number of US friendly poker sites to choose from is good news for poker players. Having flexibility in choice is always going to be beneficial for players and this is definitely something that brings merit to the industry. Some of the top poker sites for US players include:

• BetOnline
• Sportsbook.ag
• Carbon Poker
• Sportsbetting.ag
• Bovada
• Lock Poker

Different players will have their own opinions about each site and what they provide but at least with these sites to choose from, you should be able to find a poker site that meets your needs and expectations. It may not be too easy to find the best US friendly poker site but the fact that you can play poker games is a great bonus for everyone.
Even with all the blocks and barriers in place, there is still a great opportunity to have fun when playing online poker in the US.