Is Poker Legal

[Nickatilynx]

Is playing poker legal online actually legal for US residents?

I was gonna open a poker room up here in Canada and got counsels opinion saying that as you are merely hosting a venue for like minded gentlemen to play cards and not running a book yourself , it is.

Also if online gambling per se is illegal in the US , how then are firms like GoldenPalace able to advertise etc etc.

Anyone got the SP on this?

[Newton]

http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/columns/1..._poker_long.htm (http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/columns/159_internet_poker_long.htm)

http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/

[JoesHO]

Great question, I am wondering about this myself as well...
I wonder if J D Odenberger can help us with this

[Spw Guru]

Originally posted by JoesHO1@Jan 17 2005, 09:02 AM
Great question, I am wondering about this myself as well...
I wonder if J D Odenberger can help us with this
JD is our lawyer he rocks. Does he post here also?

As far as I understand the law and had it explained to me though I am not a lawyer this is how I understand it. Gambling in the US is illegal. They have no intention of making gaming (bet against the house) Legal. There is some discussion as to if poker is legal as the house takes a rake and can not "win". That being said laws would still need to change to make even that legal.

[Nickatilynx]

Yeah one of my best friends in the world owns No5Orange here in Vancouver , he was one of the founders of Starnet.

And the first person to do live feeds on the net.

The horror stories he has told me of that...it seems approx 100 officers kicked down the doors , this must be back in 97/98.

The cops laid a trap I believe pacing bets within Canada and US and then cashing out their winnings.

I heard one interesting fact about it was that certain Stock Market players knew the raid was coming as the stock was shorted..

The General is a long time sponsor and friend of all Opranauts and has had this program:

http://adult.adriches.com/

for a while now.

I hear if you want to send traffic to a casino thats the one to use.

We like to keep business within the family of Opranauts.

I mean why send to some casino that is run by some idiot on GFY when you have the * years of PERFECT paying history that The General has.

[JoesHO]

Originally posted by Spw Guru+Jan 17 2005, 09:15 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Spw Guru @ Jan 17 2005, 09:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-JoesHO1@Jan 17 2005, 09:02 AM
Great question, I am wondering about this myself as well...
I wonder if J D Odenberger can help us with this
JD is our lawyer he rocks. Does he post here also?

As far as I understand the law and had it explained to me though I am not a lawyer this is how I understand it. Gambling in the US is illegal. They have no intention of making gaming (bet against the house) Legal. There is some discussion as to if poker is legal as the house takes a rake and can not "win". That being said laws would still need to change to make even that legal. [/b][/quote]
You should give him an invite, I have not seen him here, but he is greatly respected as an attorney from what I understand, and his opinion would be of great value to this community, as well as he may find several new clients here

[grimm]

Originally posted by Spw Guru+Jan 17 2005, 09:15 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Spw Guru @ Jan 17 2005, 09:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-JoesHO1@Jan 17 2005, 09:02 AM
Great question, I am wondering about this myself as well...
I wonder if J D Odenberger can help us with this
JD is our lawyer he rocks. Does he post here also?

As far as I understand the law and had it explained to me though I am not a lawyer this is how I understand it. Gambling in the US is illegal. They have no intention of making gaming (bet against the house) Legal. There is some discussion as to if poker is legal as the house takes a rake and can not "win". That being said laws would still need to change to make even that legal. [/b][/quote]
except in many states, poker is illegal, but not very well enforece.. In california it is legal. In connecticut it is legal, even un New York is it legal, Ne Jersey too.


Being a paramutual game... what goes in, comes out would make your home game not illegal. hoever once the house starts taking the rake... you are a gambling house.

How this is different than the church "Selling" bingo cards, you got me there. I think the operative word is "Church".

[Newton]

Hmmm Religious games ;) now there is an idea ... vatican approved .. allegedly.

[TheEnforcer]

Iroically I would feel better about trying to convice a jury about the lack of obscenity of sites that include stuff like fisting and watersports than I would trying to defend owning a casino or poker room. <_<

[Wizzo]

This is the one area that I've done quite abit of research and actually paid a couple of lawyers for their opinions, and the overall consensus is "we don't know, but most likely yes".

Casino gaming and sports betting online is illegal, there's even a few people enjoying club fed because of it.

However, there's no cases that have been perused in regards to poker. The problem is that many states conceder poker a game skill rather than chance, so it's still a unknown. US law is very unclear on the matter.

The closest anyone has come to being prosecuted was Paradise Poker had $3,000,000 seized which they had given the Discovery channel for TV ads , because the Govt. said it was for advertising a illegal activity and from best I know they never got it back...

[Nickatilynx]

I am an ordained minister.

And I also own http://www.churchoftomorrow.com

hmmmmmmmmm

I could open an affiliate program and call it "Holly Rollers" lol

[Forest]

Originally posted by Nickatilynx@Jan 17 2005, 01:35 PM
I am an ordained minister.


lol so am I

http://www.ulc.net/

[grimm]

Originally posted by Wizzo@Jan 17 2005, 10:31 AM
This is the one area that I've done quite abit of research and actually paid a couple of lawyers for their opinions, and the overall consensus is "we don't know, but most likely yes".

Casino gaming and sports betting online is illegal, there's even a few people enjoying club fed because of it.

However, there's no cases that have been perused in regards to poker. The problem is that many states conceder poker a game skill rather than chance, so it's still a unknown. US law is very unclear on the matter.

The closest anyone has come to being prosecuted was Paradise Poker had $3,000,000 seized which they had given the Discovery channel for TV ads , because the Govt. said it was for advertising a illegal activity and from best I know they never got it back...
There have been quite a few raids of backroom poker games at bars in New Orleans over the last six months or so.

[Wizzo]

Originally posted by grimm+Jan 17 2005, 03:56 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (grimm @ Jan 17 2005, 03:56 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Wizzo@Jan 17 2005, 10:31 AM
This is the one area that I've done quite abit of research and actually paid a couple of lawyers for their opinions, and the overall consensus is "we don't know, but most likely yes".

Casino gaming and sports betting online is illegal, there's even a few people enjoying club fed because of it.

However, there's no cases that have been perused in regards to poker. The problem is that many states conceder poker a game skill rather than chance, so it's still a unknown. US law is very unclear on the matter.

The closest anyone has come to being prosecuted was Paradise Poker had $3,000,000 seized which they had given the Discovery channel for TV ads , because the Govt. said it was for advertising a illegal activity and from best I know they never got it back...
There have been quite a few raids of backroom poker games at bars in New Orleans over the last six months or so. [/b][/quote]
I was only speaking about online poker ventures. Non-internet raids of poker rooms happen all the time across the country.