Legal US Poker Sites

It's natural for American poker gamblers to wonder which are the legal US poker sites and which ones aren't legitimate. Most of the fault lies with U.S. gambling agencies, because of inconsistent regulation. A myriad of agencies and authorities claim the right to police U.S. online gambling activities. The 50 states tend to handle Internet betting, but these states don't license and tax poker sites. Instead, long periods of inactivity are followed by legal seizures and arrests of gambling operators. Clouding the matter is the fact, since 2006, the U.S. federal government claims the right to enforce gambling laws, citing the anti-gambling UIGEA law. Your average online poker player from America is left to wonder if what they do is legal and where they should play for real money. Without any real direction, US gamblers are left to wonder who licenses the websites taking their money and which electronic card rooms are legitimate. I've created a list of some sites you can consider safe and legit.

US State Anti-Gambling Laws

In many cases, even those sites which accept U.S. players have certain restrictions. While 43 of American states tend to allow online gambling, regardless of their stance on live gambling practices, many of the legal USA poker sites which accept players avoid seven states in particular: New York, Washington, Utah, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Louisiana. The District of Columbia or Washington DC is also avoided. If you're an American online gambler living in any of these areas, it's likely you won't be allowed to play, even if other Americans are welcomed into the poker room.

How to Find a Legal Poker Site?

When you first start your journey into the wold of online poker you will, on occasion, possibly have cause to ponder about whether you are receiving a fair and honest game. This usually occurs when you have a very strong poker hand which gets beat by an opponents poor initial hand in the latter stages of the game.

This is where is really does pay to ensure you are playing at a fully licensed and regulated US poker site. When you are playing at a legitimate poker venue online you will have certain aspects of the game which you can rely on as opposed to taking them for granted and below we shall take a look at some of the requirements which are guaranteed at a licensed online US poker site.

Random Poker Game - One of the requirements of any fully regulated poker site at which American poker players can play is that the game is 100% random, and part of the licensing procedure of that poker site will include verification that their random number generator which is used to select and deal the cards to each player is beyond reproach.

Being completely random will ensure that you can play with complete confidence, however it is worth pointing out that as you can play many more hands per session when playing poker online as opposed to poker in a land based venue, then this means that you will get to see more unusual events in the game, namely poor initial hands winning the game in the latter stages, this however is perfectly normal in a genuine game!

Guaranteed Payouts - One of the benefits of playing at a legal and licensed American online poker site is that part of the vetting procedure of all poker sites who have been approved by that jurisdiction is to ensure they have the financial backing to ensure players making a withdrawal from that venue get paid in a timely fashion.

US poker players have often experienced excruciatingly slow withdrawals from some poker sites, however by sticking only to those fully licensed and regulated you will find a better selection of withdrawal options and as such will find they pay in a more timely fashion.

Busier Poker Rooms - One of the manor benefits of playing at a fully licensed online poker site is that you will often find they have a very large player base, and the more players online and playing at any US poker site will ensure you will always find an open table offering the type of poker game you are seeking to play.

This also means that in regards to poker tournaments you will find legal poker sites in the US also tend to have the biggest prize pools on offer, and also a more diverse number of poker tournaments up and running, and this will mean you will stand a better chance of actually winning one of the cash prizes on offer and will certainly have plenty of opponents to take on!

If you are considering playing poker online then never rush into playing at just any site offering American poker players the ability to sit down and play, whilst some sites will not permit US based poker players, a lot of them will and there are both good and bad sites online.

Spend some time researching exactly where that poker site claims to be licensed and double check on the licensing authorities website to see if they are indeed a holder of a full online poker gaming license. You really do not ever want to make playing poker online a double gamble and if it is not licensed don't touch it is the best policy to adopt!