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Online Poker Legal?

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  1. ALTWANE777 ALTWANE777 is offline

    Kansas City, MO
    United States

    Posts: 15
    Joined: Jun 08

    Mar 11th, 2010 (3/11/2010 11:22pm)

    I love playing poker online. I would like to now if its against the law. I live in Missouri. Also I want to know does the UIGEA make onlime poker illegal, or is it only for deposits? Thank you. .
  2. Jennifear Jennifear is offline

    Niagara Falls, NY
    United States

    Posts: 10,222
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    Mar 13th, 2010 (3/13/2010 11:01am) in reply to ALTWANE777

    The UIGEA makes it illegal for banks to process transactions from online gambling companies. It doesn't make anything that the consumer does illegal.
  3. ShipThisPLZ ShipThisPLZ is offline

    Saint Catharines
    Canada

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    Mar 17th, 2010 (3/17/2010 2:45pm) in reply to Jennifear

     
    Originally Posted by Jennifear View Post

    The UIGEA makes it illegal for banks to process transactions from online gambling companies. It doesn't make anything that the consumer does illegal.

    does that apply to Canada too?
    673 
  4. Pace Xo Pace Xo is offline

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    Mar 22nd, 2010 (3/22/2010 11:36pm) in reply to Jennifear

     
    Originally Posted by Jennifear View Post

    The UIGEA makes it illegal for banks to process transactions from online gambling companies. It doesn't make anything that the consumer does illegal.

    Then how do you pro's get paid.. obviously a very confusing issue.
  5. ShipThisPLZ ShipThisPLZ is offline

    Saint Catharines
    Canada

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    Mar 24th, 2010 (3/24/2010 12:13am) in reply to Jennifear

     
    Originally Posted by Jennifear View Post

    The UIGEA makes it illegal for banks to process transactions from online gambling companies. It doesn't make anything that the consumer does illegal.

    then how do ppl get large sums of money off?
    673 
  6. Jennifear Jennifear is offline

    Niagara Falls, NY
    United States

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    Mar 24th, 2010 (3/24/2010 12:59am) in reply to ShipThisPLZ

     
    Originally Posted by ShipThisPLZ View Post

    then how do ppl get large sums of money off?

    Sites use payment processors so the banks are unaware that the transactions are gaming ones.

    It's a cat and mouse game.
  7. dgillis dgillis is offline Moderator

    CA
    United States

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    Mar 24th, 2010 (3/24/2010 9:57am) in reply to Jennifear

     
    Originally Posted by Jennifear View Post

    Sites use payment processors so the banks are unaware that the transactions are gaming ones.

    It's a cat and mouse game.

    it's like finding a needle in a haystack, the sheer number of electronic transactions that come through every day make it impossible to weed out every "questionable" one. At some point the big red banking giant was processing over a million paper checks a day, electronic transfers are at least three times as popular, and thats just one bank.
     
  8. trevor grady trevor grady is offline

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    Jun 11th, 2010 (6/11/2010 9:22am) in reply to dgillis

    Missouri does not limit your ability to play poker online. You must, however, be old enough. However, while there are no laws against playing online poker, it is absolutely illegal to own and operate an online poker room. Also, the banks, and other financial institutions, have taken some serious flak from the federal government for completing payments such as deposits to online poker rooms.
  9. BenJamin327 BenJamin327 is offline

    Rapid City, SD
    United States

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    Sep 27th, 2010 (9/27/2010 7:15am) in reply to ShipThisPLZ

     
    Originally Posted by ShipThisPLZ View Post

    does that apply to Canada too?

    haha is canada part of the us?
  10. PPADrew PPADrew is offline

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    Sep 27th, 2010 (9/27/2010 9:11pm) in reply to BenJamin327

    The only US state where it is illegal to play online poker is Washington State. It’s a Class C Felony, the same charge if you’re a convicted child molester if your convicted of playing online poke within the state.
    Edited By: PPADrew Sep 27th, 2010 at 09:12 PM
    Reason: bad spelling
  11. TheVillageGrinder TheVillageGrinder is offline

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    Oct 5th, 2010 (10/5/2010 4:26pm) in reply to Jennifear

     
    Originally Posted by Jennifear View Post

    The UIGEA makes it illegal for banks to process transactions from online gambling companies. It doesn't make anything that the consumer does illegal.

    My understanding is that it makes transactions TO online gambling sites illegal.
  12. Jennifear Jennifear is offline

    Niagara Falls, NY
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    Oct 6th, 2010 (10/6/2010 3:06pm) in reply to TheVillageGrinder

     
    Originally Posted by TheVillageGrinder View Post

    My understanding is that it makes transactions TO online gambling sites illegal.

    Your clarification is correct.
  13. flanyboy5 flanyboy5 is offline

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    Joined: Oct 10

    Oct 15th, 2010 (10/15/2010 11:10pm) in reply to Jennifear

    So if I have never bought in through putting money onto the sites but have only had people send me money online then it is completely legal?
  14. TheVillageGrinder TheVillageGrinder is offline

    United States

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    Joined: Sep 07

    Oct 20th, 2010 (10/20/2010 4:02pm) in reply to flanyboy5

     
    Originally Posted by flanyboy5 View Post

    So if I have never bought in through putting money onto the sites but have only had people send me money online then it is completely legal?

    Dude, I would suggest getting educated on the issues. There are some great threads on 2+2. I would suggest going there and reading up if you really want to become knowledgeable on the topic. P5s is a great site but there seems to be a much more active group related to poker legislation/lawb

    The short answer to your question is that there really is no short answer. By and large, if you are American, and live in any state except Washington, there is no real reason to believe that you are breaking any law. There are other states that have some laws on the books that have restrictions against poker and online gambling. Yet, in most of those instances, it is quite unclear whether those laws make playing poker online in those states illegal for the player. Finally, to the best of my knowledge, no American, outside of the state of Washington, has ever been arrested for playing online poker.

    The UIGEA is aimed primarily at gaming sites. The intent of the law is essentially to allow these sites to decay from the inside out. We are finding that the law is making it harder to deposit onto sites by restricting transactions TO gaming sites. Conversely withdrawing still seems to be quite easy as the law does not criminalize payments made to a player.

    A large problem related to all of this is how the laws are being interpreted. the DOJ believes that the wire act of some 40 years ago (with the UIGEA only confirming this belief) makes online poker illegal and sees the sites/operators in violation of the law and has been seizing funds randomly. HOwever even the DOJ has not cracked down as a player.

    So the bottom line is as a player, you really don't have a lot to worry about at this time-IMO.
    Edited By: TheVillageGrinder Oct 20th, 2010 at 04:14 PM
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