Online Poker, iGaming Legalization Proposed in New York Poker News
If you’re a poker player wondering what’s happening in key states, you’re not alone. Updates stories on the UIGEA, and all poker related legislation will also be found here, along with updates on the legal situation poker faces in countries all over the world. This week, yet another bill to legalize sports betting – a… Read more »
In an effort to create jobs, the plan also mandates that any online live dealer games derive from studios in the state. Caesars Entertainment, Rush Street Gaming, Hard Rock International, Boyd Gaming, and the Cordish Companies would also be able to offer online poker. “I think last time his biggest opposition was that he really hadn’t heard from his members, and the Senate hadn’t heard from constituents that they wanted online gambling.” Every state surrounding Minnesota has legalized sports betting, and legislators continue considering the issue.
Live poker is permitted in the state of South Dakota, but online poker remains unregulated and therefore not legally available. Online casinos launched in July 2019, and PokerStars was the first online poker site to launch in November 2019. While live poker is permitted in the state of North Carolina, there is no legal provision for online poker. While live poker is permitted in the state of New Mexico, there is no legislation that considers online poker. Live poker is a part of the legal gambling landscape, as is online poker via WSOP.com. There is no legal online poker in Montana, although the state does allow live poker.
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Hawaii has some very strict gambling laws, mainly addressed via the ‘Offenses Against Public Health and Morals’ Code. For this reason, Atlantic City casinos quickly partnered with jubilant European brands that wanted a chance to enter the American market. It seems they are more content prosecuting more classic crimes like bank fraud and relying on state law violations which triggers the Illegal Gambling Business Act. Understandable, considering the DOJ flip flop essentially makes their operations illegal (Since most operators are sharing liquidity across states now). It also infuriated New Jersey online gaming regulators prompting NJ Attorney General Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to fight the ruling in the First District Federal Court of Appeals.
Unlike sports betting, online poker is currently not provided or permitted by law in the state of Massachusetts. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency oversees the state’s thriving land-based casinos and mobile sports betting, but poker has not yet made its way into the online market. As of January 2026, Maine has officially become the ninth state to legalize online poker and the eighth state to legalize online casinos.
- Three more states (West Virginia, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) created a legal framework for online poker, but have no operations yet.
- Those of you who continued to play online poker immediately after the passage of UIGEA will likely recall laughable consequences, such as financing an online poker account and being informed by your payment processor that you had just purchased a large number of golf balls.
- A pioneer of regulated online gaming in the US, New Jersey long ago eclipsed $1B in igaming revenue.
- The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency oversees the state’s thriving land-based casinos and mobile sports betting, but poker has not yet made its way into the online market.
- It’s up for debate how effective regulated markets are at curbing the worst aspects of unregulated gambling.
- Find a list of regulated operators on the iGamingOntario directory.
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Originally, the plan was to approve licenses for gaming operators in early 2020, but the pandemic changed the state’s course of action. WSOP launched its site on the 888 poker platform in Pennsylvania in 2021, in time to offer WSOP bracelet events online in the state. The current poker sites in the Keystone State include Borgata, partnered through partypoker, Bet MGM, and PokerStars.
Two of those states (Connecticut and Rhode Island) have yet to license any operators for poker. However, there are some states, like Texas and Georgia, with such ambiguous laws that poker enthusiasts have found ways to open membership-based card clubs without explicit licenses to do so. Players can access the poker room on their mobile through an internet browser if they don’t. It depends on where you’re playing, as some sites specialize in a specific variant. She is a respected poker media member, contributing to publications and websites like USA Today, PokerStars, and PokerScout.
There’s also a state lottery that includes Mega Millions and Powerball, and in 2016 they became the first state to legalize and regulate Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS). However, the state does offer off-track betting parlors and allows for some charitable gambling. Charities are permitted to hold bingo, raffles, and casino nights. Vermont does have a state lottery and horse racing is technically legal despite there being no tracks in operation.
Addabbo Jr. has long led the charge for the expansion of online New York gambling, including online poker. New York legislators are introducing iGaming and online poker bills, continuing a long and thus far fruitless legalization effort. Even if a bill is passed, it would likely take at least 18 months before online poker could go live. Opposition also comes from influential groups, including a prominent hotel and casino workers’ union in New York, which argues that online gaming could negatively impact land-based casinos and their workforce. Together, they have introduced about half a dozen additional bills, some exclusively focused on online poker and others addressing both online poker and casino. However, the state would likely need to pass separate legislation to authorize participation in an interstate compact, something which Michigan did following the passage of its online poker legislation.
Other members of the agreement include Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia. But FanDuel and PokerStars are both owned by Flutter, thus making a PokerStars the only viable poker operator currently set up for a possible Connecticut launch. But neither FanDuel or DraftKings have a poker client in any of the other states they operate in.
Although certain powers may disagree, let’s also be aware that www.pokernewsdaily.com the laws of the United States are not global, and do not reach beyond their own borders (although their influence certainly does). Online Poker can be traced back to January 1998 with the first real money hand being dealt at Planet Poker, a poker site founded by Canadian Randy Blumer. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, please visit begambleaware.com (Great Britain) to find help.
Its approach sets a high bar that regulated sites should aim to meet (or exceed) if they want to win over the modern player. He advocates not only for legalization but also for inclusivity, working to bring more women and casual players into the game. While it isn’t licensed in the US, it caters to American players with a commitment to security, integrity, and fairness that rivals many regulated platforms.
I think this was a time where there was a very narrow idea of what women in poker could really do. A lot of people would say poker was pretty nasty with misogyny during that period. I always thought it was an advantage to be a woman in the tournament reporting space because poker tournaments are very boring and these guys are stuck in their seats and just want someone to talk to. It wasn’t I was an amazing writer or that I had some elite level of poker acumen. As a poker fan, I got behind the ropes access to everything and made money to boot, so it always felt like a blessing.
The MSIGA currently includes Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, Delaware, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. “A secure and highly regulated policy framework will protect the public and positively benefit state revenues and the commonwealth’s economy.” “The commission believes that if you choose to gamble, the best place to gamble is with a licensed and regulated operator in the commonwealth,” commission spokesman Thomas Mills told Boston.com. The Massachusetts Gaming commission would regulate the industry. However, it’s usually how lawmakers quietly kill the measure.
Texas is experimenting with live poker at private social clubs instead of casinos. Instead of real money, players use a virtual currency called Sweep Coins to buy into tournaments and cash games. With nearly 13 million residents, Illinois would instantly become the second-largest state with legal online poker, trailing only Pennsylvania.
The bill charges the Virginia Lottery Board with regulating the industry. “My goal is to bring it under a regulated umbrella where we can have some oversight of it and supervision.” The legislation is intended to bring in badly needed state revenue, as Virginia faces a $1.5 billion shortfall for Fiscal Year 2027. Join 10,000 other casino fans who have already signed up.
Ohio was a hotbed for illicit gambling in the early 1900s until 1990 when casino legalization was first introduced to the state. That said, New Mexico lawmakers did vote in October 2018 to allow sports betting and the state has a long tradition of horse track betting dating back to the 1940s. This means that players can compete against other players from certain states in a shared-liquidity pool. Despite that, the idea of online poker in New Hampshire seems more of a hope than a reality. Repeated efforts over the last two decades to pass legislation to allow casinos in the state have routinely failed. But while Montana is pretty relaxed when it comes to many forms of gambling, the same can’t be said about online gambling.
Along the way, she found a place for herself in an industry that often had a very narrow idea of what a woman in poker media was supposed to look like and do. However, Florida is home to lots of excellent real-life poker rooms where poker is perfectly legal. Given its history of hosting offline poker games, Nevada is often regarded as the leading state for all types of poker. He also reached agreements with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, which operate land-based casinos in Connecticut. One year later, the West Virginia Lottery Commission filed its rules for poker rooms to operate online.
Joseph Addabbo (D) has introduced online gaming bills over the last two years, but the issue has failed to gain much traction. “In fact, the legislative history contains strong indications that Congress did indeed train its efforts solely on sports gambling.” The group also pointed to a study that found 89% of Californians believe sweepstakes gambling should be legal. The signing comes after the state senate and assembly both unanimously passed a bill prohibiting dual currency sweepstakes casino-style gambling.
Omar is a former poker player turned editor who competed from 2NL to 600NL across cash games, tournaments, and sit-and-goes. 🔹 For legal updates on online gambling, follow our blog. As online gambling grows, so do legal actions against platforms engaging in fraud, unfair terms, or data misuse. 🔹 Rigged games – Unlicensed platforms with unfair algorithms that tilt the odds heavily against players.
As of March 2026, some of the sites that continued to take US money in defiance of the UIGEA processing laws have been frozen out. However, in NJ, online blackjack and roulette is also available to state residents and visitors, as well as poker. With those constraints gone, it opened the doors for many global poker sites to return to the US – particularly those that had decided to pack up their websites and leave the US after UIGEA.
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.
More telling, the sports betting legislation mania sweeping through the nation never got to Missouri. On the second effort, they succeeded, and the state has appeared to have gone backward in terms of precedent that might favor online poker. However, online gambling has struggled to establish any kind of foothold.
Since PokerStars led the way, many other operators entered the multi-state compact and began sharing player pools across states, the latest being the addition of BetRivers Poker in June 2025. Ever since they dealt their first hand of online poker back on January 29, 2021, Michigan has been one of the hottest online poker markets in the United States. Maryland is another state that has expanded land-based gambling offerings with six casinos. The current framework also does not allow the state to join interstate shared-liquidity agreements, so any future market may initially be limited to players located within Maine. It’s possible that online poker could follow in the years to come.
More lawmakers in Hawaii have been open to discussing the possibility of sports betting, with only a select few even entertaining the idea of a casino on the islands. This state is frequently mentioned as a possible place where regulated online poker could both come to pass and thrive. They could be a candidate for regulated online poker, but a lack of obvious support undermines their potential. Lawmakers tried to legalize online poker for more than ten years before quitting after an incredibly frustrating 2016 legislative session. A litany of regulated options for playing real-money poker coexists with an aggressive stance toward unregulated gambling in Arizona. There are few options, and the likelihood of regulated online poker in the near term is essentially nil.
Poker is not mentioned, and the law doesn’t ban anyone from playing or gambling online; it just bars businesses from accepting and receiving payments. As a result, the state is restricted to accommodating only two online poker sites. That has remained the case into 2026, with no operators expressing an interest in launching online poker. Governor Ned Lamont then signed the bill into law at the end of May, making it the seventh state to authorize state-licensed online poker in the new US market. Later in the spring of 2022, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed MSIGA to allow poker sites to join their player pools across state lines with New Jersey. All three of the state’s racinos – Delaware Park, Harrington Raceway, and Dover Downs – share an online poker network powered by 888poker.
Signing imminent Online gambling is about to become illegal in India. “Long-term economic growth” After trying and failing just a few months ago, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is giving the legalization of poker in the District another go. Online poker is currently on hiatus in Delaware after the state awarded its exclusive iGaming contract to Rush Street Interactive in August 2023. Among other things, visitors will find a daily dose of articles with the latest poker news, live reporting from tournaments, exclusive videos, podcasts, reviews and bonuses and so much more.