Much more than just a poker blog...
Even though online poker in the United States suffered from a huge hit in 2011, it’s slowly getting back to the land of freedom by returning to more and more states.
Gambling has been with us since ancient times, and it's never lost its popularity amongst humans due to the thrill. Poker has undoubtedly been the king of card games to gamble on for quite some time - with some recent insane cash game pots [2] at GGPoker reminding us of the good old days pre 2011. For Pennsylvania players, though, those days are now back for good!
On bonfire night - Tuesday 5th November 2019 - PokerStars began offering legal poker hands to players in PA, as reported by Calvin Ayre [3]. This makes Pennsylvania the fourth state to officially allow poker on the internet after New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
Previously, online gambling had been prospering all around the world in the 2000s but suffered a huge punch - below the belt - when in 2011 most gambling operators on the internet were shot down in the United States. Of course, this impacted online poker massively as players scrambled and struggled to recover their money. The event was so big that a movie called Bet Raise Fold [4] was created examining the industry’s rise and subsequent demise.
However, after more than 8 years from that fateful period, the game is getting stronger and stronger and as more and more states make it available for their citizens, the number of options to gamble on the internet is increasing rapidly. Thanks to Pennsylvania’s latest move, it begs the question of who will follow next.
There’s no shortage of potential options of where online poker will be legalized next. However, one thing that’s pretty confusing about the US is that some states only allow certain types of gambling on the internet. For example, online sports betting might be fine but not poker. A recent Business Insider [5] article highlighted that “11 states have legalized sports betting” since the Supreme Court lifted a federal ban on sports betting during May 2018. Also, 24 states have legislation that’s currently pending, leaving just 8 states continuing the outright ban.
Wow! This is a huge jump from just a few years ago and opens up many potential doors for internet poker. Although we don’t imagine it will be given the green light in as many states as sports betting, there are sure to be some that follow suit - and this can only be a good thing. Once the trend begins to pick up, we’re hopeful that this will kick other states into gear and online gambling’s future will be a lot rosier than it was predicted to be.
For anyone who likes to mix their flops with a few spins on slot machines, the situation isn’t quite as advanced. In fact, online casino is currently locked at the same hurdle as online poker in that it is only legally available in the same four states as above.
A great site that’s keeping tabs on such developments is USAOnlineCasinoFinder.com [6] which specializes in helping US players find legal online casinos in their state. One useful feature is that they list casinos who also offer legal US online sports betting [7] too so you can quickly find a site that’s a dual package.
As for online poker, the opening of Pennsylvania is a huge moment and is hopefully just another step in the right direction for the US as a whole. We’ll keep you informed of any new legislature events when they happen, as we begin to put 2011 firmly behind us.