New York Once Again Has iGaming, Online Poker Bills
The seized sites included Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker. Instead, you can play on PokerStars NJ or PokerStars Pennsylvania. In March 2015, Delaware and Nevada were the first two states to agree on MSIGA. The branded skins include Delaware Park, Dover Down, and Harrington Raceway.
Massachusetts: Twin Bills for Online Poker
After many years of uncertainty, this has basically granted states broad authority over poker. Online poker regulation in the U.S. follows a state-based model, with each jurisdiction managing its own licensing as well as compliance and enforcement. She has included poker and blackjack in some physical venues as part of her 2026 budget proposal, just like she did last year.
The laws are almost always in a state of flux, and as of 2026, only a handful of states have fully legalized online poker. Use this US legal poker tracker to quickly check whether your state allows regulated online poker, prohibits it, or sits in a gray area. To date, there are no recorded cases of U.S. players prosecuted solely for using offshore poker sites. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) primarily applies to operators and payment processors, rather than players. These sites are not regulated by U.S. authorities but often continue to accept American players, depending on state restrictions. Some U.S. players access poker through offshore online platforms licensed in jurisdictions such as Curaçao, Malta, or the Isle of Man.
The bill calls for a 33.5% tax on gross gaming revenue, which is lower than the 51% tax on mobile sports betting. Over the last few years, he’s also attempted to bring iGaming and online gaming to New York, but has yet to get the legislation over the hump. As several other states consider online gaming legalization, New York Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D) has once again introduced a bill in New York. Adding New York to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) would be a major boost to the country’s online poker pools.
In the rest of the country, the legality exists in a gray area, with federal laws intersecting state efforts and offshore platforms filling the void. With over 15 years as a professional freelance writer, including a decade focused on the iGaming industry, Matthew has established himself as a respected voice in poker media. Each now has the ability to approve or reject poker legislation, but that determination is made only by state leaders. Licenses are generally limited to companies holding land-based casino rights or tribal compacts, linking online operations to U.S.-based entities rather than foreign firms.
- Charities are permitted to hold bingo, raffles, and casino nights.
- The state has been sliding towards legalized gambling in many forms for over two decades.
- In 2018, a bill was passed allowing poker home games with stakes of up to $1,000 to be played and hosted.
- Meanwhile, many turn to offshore providers, including poker sites catering to New Yorkers, which offer a wide variety of tournaments and cash games.
As with West Virginia, online poker sites appear to be waiting for Connecticut to enter the multi-state agreement. After Connecticut lawmakers approved a bill to legalize online gaming, Gov. Ned Lamont signed it into state law in May 2021. Operators will need to partner with a land-based casino and apply for licenses to allow people to play poker in the state under the new law. Due to COVID-19, lawmakers in the Wolverine State were too focused on health safety guidelines and the economy to worry about the online poker bill they passed late in 2019. Another two years passed before Michigan became the fifth www.pokernewsdaily.com state in 2019 to legalize online poker.
Although it does not have the power to license remote poker platforms, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission oversees the state’s casino properties. Tribes can now offer both, although no regulated sites are yet operational. The state has been sliding towards legalized gambling in many forms for over two decades. Online poker is currently not permitted in the state of Louisiana, but it is also not explicitly outlawed.
Despite its connections to the game, Texas has yet to legalize poker in any form. It’s illegal to operate an online betting website or similar business in South Dakota. Laws are written in such a way as to potentially render playing any game of any sort an illegal act, even if no wagering is involved. Often employed as a poster child of sorts for the outdated – some would say old-fashioned – approach of state law toward gambling.
The state does allow poker and gambling at Native American-owned casinos and nonprofit “charitable gaming” casinos. While online poker is not currently legal in North Dakota and the state has traditionally been resistant to gaming expansion, there was a lot of movement in 2021 to legalize online poker. Live poker was only allowed at tribal casinos until 2013, when commercial casinos were made legal and began offering poker games. New York State lawmakers have been attempting to legalize online poker since 2014 but have never had any success in doing so. PokerStars on FanDuel and WSOP NJ lead the pack of several sites to choose from to play online poker in New Jersey.
As more states enter the pool, online poker will become a more attractive option due to its ability to generate more revenue. One prominent law firm in Michigan already predicted the Biden Administration would provide a “clear path for expanded use of internet communications for other gaming products.” Plus, the death of Adelson means the end of the most avid and well-bankrolled opponent of online gambling. The DOJ’s attorney attempted to sidestep the lotteries in hopes of getting the case dismissed, likely so they could target online poker companies down the road. In the mean time, the government announced a stay of execution on the reinterpreted Wire Act that allowed online poker to go on as normal for the time being.
As of January 2026, there are no active bills that propose a method for licensing poker sites. In these jurisdictions, it’s often possible to access offshore poker sites, although it’s up to you to do the necessary research and due diligence before taking to the tables. Six of these states operate under the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), allowing for shared liquidity and larger player pools. Players must be physically located within one of these states to play on licensed sites. Since there is no unified federal law authorizing or prohibiting poker platforms, every state determines for itself whether real-money poker may be offered within its borders.
The Delaware Lottery allowed its contract with 888 to expire and opened bidding for a new platform provider for poker and casino games online. WSOP launched its online poker site in September 2013 with Caesar’s casinos. As the first state to legalize online poker, Nevada continued its tradition as a trailblazer in gambling. Poker players can legally play real-money poker in various ways. Now, the state is one of the biggest poker markets – both live and online – but has yet to sign the interstate agreement to share online poker sites.
After legalizing igaming and sports betting in 2017, igaming didn’t launch until 2019. Unclear whether poker players are included under the scope of the law. Existing laws aimed at cracking down on sports betting may apply to wagering over the internet, but that is one of many conclusions you might reach after reviewing the law regarding gambling in Oklahoma. In 2023 and 2024, State Senator Addabbo encouraged full igaming instead of just online poker, but both bills appear to have failed again. No surprise that the nation’s gambling capital was the first to offer regulated online poker. Gambling-friendly state started seriously considering online poker and casino games in 2017, opening its first land-based casino in 2018.
He’s worried about the younger players who aspire to one day become the next Erik Seidel. For example, if a poker player has $100,000 in cashes but finishes the year in the red, they can only deduct 90% of the losses, or $90,000, meaning they’d owe taxes on $10,000 in “profits” that didn’t exist. With nearly 20 million residents, New York would become the largest US jurisdiction to regulate real money online poker, surpassing Pennsylvania (13 million residents) and Michigan (10 million). Additionally, critics raise concerns about the potential for online casinos to worsen addiction and other social issues.
Considering this was a nascent industry it is not surprising the legal landscape was not developed and very unclear. That’s a point that I’ve made in the past, and that was borne out when Rhode Island became the only state since 2021 to pass an online casino bill. This year saw the formation of the National Association Against iGaming, aligning the retail industry holdouts with casino workers’ unions and a variety of advocacy groups. While conventional operators like MGM have unequivocally opposed prediction contracts on sports, DraftKings and FanDuel have begun dabbling in predictions as a way of keeping up. DraftKings and FanDuel, which were themselves the disruptors not long ago, had only just begun to make peace with the U.S. brick-and-mortar casino industry. The prediction markets have had a profound effect on the gambling industry, too.
When operators know they can share player pools across state lines for better liquidity, they will likely submit applications. However, there are no licensed poker rooms online in West Virginia yet, because no sites have applied for those licenses. After a great deal of lobbying, the West Virginia legislature legalized online gaming in March 2019. WSOP is the latest of the online poker rooms to open in Michigan, launching on March 28, 2022.
Montana adheres to its history as a wild West state when it comes to gambling law, holding a unique position as the only state allowing casino-style gambling outside of casinos. At this point, the state sports 30 state-regulated casinos, mostly located on the Gulf Coast and along the river. “Michigan and New Jersey joining forces is great news for our players in these two states, and poker, more generally,” said PokerStars US Managing Director, Severin Rasset, at the time. Despite what was previously a strict stance by Louisiana against online gaming, discussions concerning iGaming regulation began in 2014 when the state kicked off the year by considering an online gambling bill. In 2023, for the fifth consecutive year, legislation was introduced for the regulation of online poker. As an example, a gambling expansion bill introduced in 2014 sought to establish a new casino but also contained an amendment that banned online gambling and classified it as a misdemeanor.
In the same year Yahoo Games launched Texas Hold’em games for play money which was a very popular portal and instrumental in introducing this new poker variant to the mass market. Connecticut, for instance, still doesn’t have any online poker, largely because it hasn’t yet joined the Multistate Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). To bring online poker to a state with fewer than five million residents requires shared liquidity, for one thing. Online poker for the cardrooms and sports betting for the tribes is a deal that would make sense on paper. That state’s gaming tribes are coming around on the issue of sports betting, but cardrooms wouldn’t support any gaming expansion that doesn’t have anything in it for them.
State Senator Also Seeks Sweepstakes Casino Ban
Residents can only legally play poker in person at licensed casinos, which typically offer poker as a table game, rather than cash games or tournaments. The Arkansas Racing Commission is in charge of land-based casinos and sportsbooks, but all forms of online gambling are explicitly banned. Over the years, Alaska legislators have occasionally discussed gaming revenue opportunities, but bills to legalize poker or online casinos have consistently died in committee.
Nevada was first to the party, followed by New Jersey and Delaware. First, the principle of deseutude means that laws like the one in Washington may now be impossible to enforce anyway. In Nevada, for example, a licensed dispensary can sell marijuana and the purchaser can legally possess it, despite both aspects of this transaction being a federal crime. The situation is paralleled by the ongoing question of marijuana legislation.
States that have regulated Internet poker have taken advantage of a carve-out in UIGEA that allows intrastate financial transactions for horse racing and fantasy sports betting to overcome payment issues. Several other states are in the process of debating the pros and cons of regulated online poker, and it is anticipated that a second wave of regulating states will soon follow. By the end of summer 2019, Pennsylvania joined as the group as the fourth state to legalize online poker. This makes it very difficult for individuals to figure out if they are breaking the law by playing poker online. This article aims to clear up the myths about online poker legislation in the United States and provide an accurate view of the current rules and regulations. This confusion has not been helped by some sites referring to offshore poker sites as “illegal”, when in fact they are regulated and licensed – only not by authorities in the USA.
“The negative ramifications for this industry are obvious, and they have high-powered lobbyists. And several casino operators are known supporters of the current Administration. I strongly suspect they will be working to reverse this.” The sports betting bill, SD 1657, would ban prop and in-play betting, bar ads during televised sporting events, and raise the tax rate to 51%. A new bill has been proposed to update the Massachusetts online casino industry.
Fox believes the issue has bipartisan opposition, especially in states like Nevada, where gambling is a critical part of the economy. Fox remained cautious, estimating only a 25% chance that the law would be reversed in 2025. “Vegas was built on the dream,” he said, warning that this dream could be diminished if the law is allowed to stand. “No one in the industry likes this,” Fox wrote in a X thread posted on July 3.
Online casinos are legal in some of the states that border Ohio (for example Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan) so Ohioans can legally play online poker by crossing into any of those states. New Jersey lawmakers legalized online poker and other forms of internet gaming in 2013. As a result, poker players in Michigan have a choice of various live and online poker options, and the state’s involvement in a multi-state compact allows it to share players with various other states. As with many less populous states, involvement in a multi-state compact would likely be required in order for any future regulated online poker sites in Maine to draw sufficient player numbers. The state’s lawmakers knew that these offerings would combine well with legal live poker at the racetrack casinos (racinos) in the state, which also offered table games and video lottery terminals.
“I think it could affect gambling big time, in all gambling. If approved, the plan would go into effect immediately as an emergency law. Another bill, SD 2428, filed in the state senate by Sen. Jacob Oliveira (D) would also ban wagering on elections.
It’s likely that more states will legalize online poker in the coming years, as legislation is being considered in several states across the country. As of Spring 2023, online poker is legal in the US states of Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan. Bill A2578, sponsored and proposed by Sen. Ray Lesniak, brought legal online poker games to the Garden State for the first time.