Californias Governor Signs Sweeps Ban: What It Means For Online Poker Players
These measures are crucial for maintaining trust between players and operators in an industry where security is paramount. Firstly, they could lead to more options for playing at licensed and regulated online casinos within your state. As Wyoming and Indiana deliberate on such legislation, it’s crucial to consider how these changes will reverberate throughout the industry and affect players nationwide. The legislation legalizes online gaming and poker in the Bay State. If New York were to legalize online poker, it could join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) that includes in Nevada, Michigan, New Jersey, Delaware and West Virignia.
Minnesota does sport a modest casino and poker culture with 23 brick and mortar casinos, many of which accept patrons who are 18 and over, although some are for ages 21 and up. The only caveat – PokerStars as a platform in the US migrated across, meaning players now can only access it via the FanDuel platform. This incorporated Pennsylvania into the shared-liquidity compact, allowing PokerStars players to compete with others in PA, MI and NJ.
By joining PokerStars New Jersey, the merged network immediately became the largest in the United States, even surpassing the WSOP.com interstate network (Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware). Online poker, although not currently offered, could be an option someday soon. MGM Springfield, the first commercial casino in the Bay State, opened to business in 2018. However, the first commercial casino only opened to business seven years later.
Legalization in late 2019 led to a massive influx of revenue from igaming. One of the more complex webs of state gambling law thanks to an additional level of county law regarding gambling. The state law is complicated by a flawed and incomplete definition of gambling.
Other types of poker are legal under specific circumstances, but players do not appear to risk arrest regardless of the game’s legal status. Penalties for operators can be quite harsh, less so for poker players. A state that has been considering regulated online poker for several years, Iowa takes a middling stance on gambling in unregulated environments. Lawmakers have seriously considered online poker and casino games, though it may be another year or so before they find the right amount of support. A long history with gambling played a part in expanded options of late, including video gaming terminals and sports betting.
Bally’s Corporation, based in Rhode Island, put igaming on the table in 2023 with its own proposal submitted to lawmakers to regulate online casino games and poker. Unlike South Carolina, the law in North Carolina offers little risk to players in illegal gambling games. There are many ways to play poker legally in the state, but many questions about how the law applies to online gambling continue.
PokerScout is your go-to source for poker news, poker odds calculators, and poker traffic stats. With an academic background in physics, Alex brings an analytical perspective to gambling. It also requires an operator that’s interested in the market for other reasons and willing to go to the trouble of including a poker room. If there is some hope for iGaming legislation, it is more likely in small states than big ones.
How to Protect Your Data While Gambling Online:
- The group is made up of regional casino operators, including the Cordish Companies, which owns and operates Live!
- There is no shortage of tribal casinos in Wisconsin with approximately two dozen properties owned by 11 tribes spread throughout the state.
- Following Chris Moneymaker’s seminal 2002 World Series of Poker win, online poker quickly exploded into an international phenomenon.
- The bill declares a \»conservative estimate\» that approving online gaming would net New York a much needed billion dollars in tax revenue in it its first year.
The U.S. poker legislation landscape continues to shift as more states explore regulation and shared player pools. All other states either have legislation against online gambling or don’t yet have a regulatory framework. West Virginia legalized online casino gaming in 2019 through the Interactive Wagering Act (HB 2934).
The industry trade group favored regulating the industry in the state. However, some non-gaming tribes opposed the ban, arguing that partnerships with the platforms could benefit their citizens. The California Nations Indian Gaming Association backed the legislation. Several other states have introduced bill targeting the industry as well. Another casino is expected to open in Petersburg in 2027.
The UIGEA remains core to these issues, requiring gambling transactions to come from licensed, legal operations. Other federal laws, including the Illegal Gambling Business Act and the UIGEA, still shape payment processing and compliance matters. Federal courts have confirmed that the Wire Act of 1961 applies only to sports betting. The system combines verification and shared liquidity agreements to strike a balance between player safety and market growth. Legal poker sites are not included in this, but introducing land-based options could be a first step toward broader reform. Is attempting to legalize land-based poker in the city for the second time.
Global Poker is an example of an online poker site that has implemented this model. A sweepstakes model allows online poker with cash prizes for citizens in all of the US states. NJ, Nevada & Delaware share a common player pool with a multi-state network operated by WSOP/888 Poker. Once enough states have committed themselves to public opinion on online gambling, many others are likely to follow suit.
The online poker market in Michigan is completely state-regulated; the Lawful Internet Gaming Act (2019) made it www.pokernewsdaily.com legal, and the first hand was dealt in January 2021. In 2024, Maine debated comprehensive legislation pertaining to online gaming, which includes provisions for online poker. Real-money gambling, including live poker, is available at dozens of tribal, riverboat, and state-licensed casinos and is governed by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. Kentucky has a law prohibiting unlicensed operators and does not permit online poker within its state borders. Live poker can be found in casinos and card rooms, but residents are currently unable to access authorized U.S. poker sites lawfully.
Coordination with commercial and tribal operators would be needed for any expansion on this. Live gambling is restricted to a few racinos, bingo halls, and a state lottery. Poker and other forms of iGaming have occasionally been the subject of legislative attempts to legalize. Given Hawaii’s historical opposition, legalization is extremely unlikely in the near future. Lawmakers consistently cite social and economic concerns about introducing gambling. Occasional proposals, such as House Bill 2422, have sought to establish a gaming commission, but have failed.
Legal Disclaimer
Workers fear job losses New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo has been trying to get online casino gambling legalized in the Empire State years, having once again introduced a bill in January. The constitutional amendment authorized a state lottery, up to seven new casinos, and sports betting.… Read more » Blanket ban In an effort to curb both rising credit card debt and problem gambling, Pennsylvania State Senator Wayne Fontana has said he plans to introduce a bill which would prohibit the use of credit cards on online gambling sites. Last Friday, Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 2136 into law, banning online sweepstakes casinos… Read more »
That said, most of the top poker rooms in the Chicago area are actually across the border over on the Indiana side. There are some major poker rooms in Tampa and Miami, the state’s two largest cities and two of the top tourist destinations in the US. That said, the Sunshine State has become a hotbed for tournament poker, with some of the biggest events ever taking place in this southern state.
Under the direction of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, the state permitted the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to run virtual poker and casino platforms. It’s unlikely that gaming will be legalized in California in the short term. As of January 2026, no laws are in effect, despite some industry stakeholders still advocating for regulation. Tribal sovereignty disputes and the conflicting interests of cardrooms and tribal casinos have repeatedly slowed progress. Currently, there are no state-regulated platforms that allow people to play for real money. Without a clear regulatory path, any progress would require a major rewrite of the state’s gaming laws.
Currently, the only legal gambling in Georgia is the… Read more » Since 2018, sports betting has taken off across the States of America. New Jersey also approved a law banning these operators in August. Sweeps companies have also noted that users aren’t required to buy anything and that their games should be treated more like traditional mobile gaming.
Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D) said he hasn’t been able to galvanize enough support for a more expansive online gaming bill and as a result has introduced a more scaled-down version of the legislation. EvenBet can deploy in 4–6 weeks, with platforms stress-tested for 10,000+ concurrent players. RNG certification remains non-negotiable, but now players want more transparency. When Pennsylvania joined in 2025, it proved the point — player pools grew, games flowed, and everyone won. As of 2025, just five states — NJ, Nevada, Delaware, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — run legal poker rooms.
Florida would also appear to offer some promise, but recent opinion polling has indicated little public support for online gaming. The remaining states listed above are the best placed to further expand this somewhat healthy player base. Finally the “forget about it” category includes those states with an historical antipathy to any form of gaming or gambling.
Poker players who want to play online have no ‘legal’ option – and must play on one of the US-Friendly offshore poker sites. There is, perhaps, an alternate universe where online poker advocates attempted to piggyback on sports betting, instead of online casinos. With its population of over 13 million and over 150,000 online poker players, Pennsylvania brings much-anticipated shared liquidity to a player pool that includes players from New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, West Virginia, and Michigan. Again we emphasize some of this is little better than guesswork, but we have incorporated as much information as possible, including state law regarding land-based gaming and gambling, as well as any recent history of legislation pertinent to online poker. While poker players and the fledgling state online poker sites were delighted by this development, nobody was particularly surprised given that the original wording of the Wire Act seemed perfectly transparent on the matter. Addabbo introduced legislation in 2024 to legalize online poker and casinos, but the measure faltered.
Brand of casinos around the United States, has unveiled a new proposal for a mixed-used development – which includes a casino – in Petersburg, Virginia. A couple (Utah and Hawaii) outright ban the activity, online or live, although Hawaii is looking to change that. Thirty-eight states plus the District of Columbia have passed some form of sports betting or daily fantasy sports, but one is going to have to wait for another legislative session before… Read more »
«DraftKings would like to state its support for the provision authorizing the Governor to enter into multijurisdictional agreements for peer-to-peer casino gaming,» Prestwood said. Pennsylvania lawmakers are also currently looking at joining the poker compact. However, no poker operators have launched in Connecticut since then.
Although there is a growing list of states where online poker is legal, playing poker on the Internet remains unregulated or illegal in the majority of them, depending on state law. There are now seven players in the state-by-state online poker industry in the States of America. Efforts to legalize online gaming and poker have already been introduced in both the house and the senate and allow the state’s casinos to be licensees (listed as Category 1 license holders for two skins as well as separate branding for online poker).
State and tribes amended their compacts It appears that online casino and sports betting are closer to becoming a reality in Connecticut. In 2013, three states rapidly passed online poker into law. The ability of states to pass regulations regarding online gaming, especially online poker, have been in existence since 2011.
Pokerfuse wrote that Hochul «has given a clear sign that NY online poker and casino gaming do not have her support — at least not yet» but added that there is still a chance the bill will pass through the legislature and make it to the governor’s desk. In the latest development in the fight to bring online poker to New York, Gov. Hochul, a Democrat, unveiled an executive budget that did not include anticipated revenues from online gambling. «Neighboring states authorized gaming, creating billions in taxable revenue. By letting people play casino games online, we can decrease deficits and help our families and schools. Let’s bring iGaming to New York.» In 2016, the Assembly shot down a bill that would’ve allowed the New York State Gaming Commission to grant up to 11 online poker licenses and expanded poker licenses beyond land-based casinos in the state, while a similar bill failed in 2017.
Legislators in Delaware weren’t going to get left in the dust regarding online poker regulation. Revenue numbers and statistics are not available for much of Nevada’s online poker history because regulations stipulate that there are not enough sites to warrant the distribution of that information. Ultimate gaming was the first company to launch online poker for residents of Nevada in April 2013 via a partnership with Station Casinos. WV did sign the multi-state poker agreement in late 2023, though no online poker sites have yet come forth with the intention to launch there. They are the only state to decide to pass a law essentially forbidding any participation in any federal online gambling network.
The state operates an online lottery and a charitable gaming program. AB 114 (2013) legalized intrastate Internet poker, making Nevada one of the first to do so. Nebraska has traditionally been an anti-gambling state and doesn’t license or regulate poker. As a result, there are hundreds of bars and entertainment venues offering live poker, video poker, video lottery, and off-track betting.
While Washington has embraced many forms of gambling, online gaming is not one of them. Despite not offering online poker, Vermont spoke out against the US government’s interpretation of the Wire Act and was critical in getting that opinion clarified. As one of the most conservative states in the country, Utah does not offer online or live poker and don’t hold your breath for that to change any time soon. Texas does not have legal sports betting and has not addressed the subject since the 2018 US Supreme Court ruling. There is no online or live poker in Tennessee and it seems unlikely that either will be reaching the state any time soon. In 2020, South Dakota voters approved sports betting and the first legal sportsbooks reached the state in 2021.
Providing everything you need to play poker online since 2006. Resorts World, meanwhile, has dabbled in online sports betting but has had less success. The question for iGaming and online poker proponents, then, is what has changed that would engender any optimism in 2026? «I think it’s terrible for the government to put people in a position to think about things like that. The players I know, the tournament players, pay their taxes. They pay quite a bit in taxes.» «It’s even worse for the younger players. These are people who put in an incredible amount of effort and hours learning, and now they’re going to be in a position where they can’t really play,» Seidel claims.
If it wasn’t clear before, there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to US online poker at the moment. Both bills explicitly include online poker, making them some of the most straightforward proposals in recent years. Massachusetts is another state revisiting online poker in 2025, with two separate bills — HD 4084 in the House and SD 2240 in the Senate. If passed, Wyoming could become an interesting addition to the US online poker scene. Wyoming might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of US online poker, but a new bill—House Bill 162—aims to change that.