Online Poker Sites Accepting USA

Poker for US Citizens

Devoted to tracking what US poker sites are staying open or closing to the United States in addition to breaking news coverage solely about the US. This page has gotten over 32,500,000 hits over the five years since the UIGEA passed due to unbiased, accurate information.

(click here for updates) Updated January 27, 2011, 12:05apm

I. Our TRUSTED List of US Accepted Poker Sites

NOTICE: Major sites such as PokerStars, Party Poker and Full Tilt Poker no longer accept players from the USA.

BetOnline.com Featured – We are rating this room an ( A ) for trust factor for player funds and also has highest deposit and withdraw speeds and success rates with full poker, casino and sports.  Visit BetOnline now.

Bovadapoker.lv – (previously named Bodog) Best poker site at the moment with good games and $100k guarantees and $1,100 bonus. Not mac compatible.

Carbonpoker.com – Probably the most trusted site on the Merge Network that allows US players. People in New York, Kentucky, Washington DC, Maryland, Washington, Missouri and Louisiana are not accepted though.

II. Notable Casinos Still Taking Americans

CasinoTitan.com – Most prominent US facing site to say they will not leave the US market despite recent withdraws from other casinos. Fast cashouts and deposits.

Aladdinsgold.com – Good withdraw speeds for US players including catering to higher limit players with very high reputation in casino industry.

Diceland.com – Pretty much any US citizen wanting to deposit and play will have no problems. This casino group leads the industry in easy deposits and withdrawing from the United States, rare these days.

- Here is the list of more US accepted online casinos CompatiblePoker recommends.

III. E-wallet Stances on US Market

Updated: Dec. 10, ‘11 – Compatiblepoker is not affiliated with these companies. Check local laws before gambling online or using any poker deposit option.

• 900Pay – Used only at casinos like Pure Vegas Casino but expect to possibly see as an option for poker in 2010.
• Add-funds – April 2, 07 – No US poker sites use this anymore.  Was once used at Absolutepoker.
• AllAccessvisa.com - Feb 04, 09
• American Express – Jan, 2011 – Only Betonline.com accepts Amex deposits.
• ATMonline – Jan. 23, 07 – They have frozen US funds.
• Cash Transfer Express - Same thing as Moneygram which is US accepted.
• Central Coin Jan. 18, 07 – Central Coin is not taking US gambling deposits.
• Citadel Commerce – Jan. 17, 07 – Not accepting US gambling sites anymore
• Credit Cards - May 16, 08 – Most all major US credit cards being accepted at the majority of sites, but its hit or miss.
• Click2pay Feb. 1, 07 – Doesn’t accept new US customers
• Diners – Not used by any poker sites but used at Cherryredcasino
• eChecks – October 13, 2011 – After “Black Friday” these are not really in use anymore.
• EcoCard – July 30, 07 – Stopped US deposits on August 24 , 2007 . Was replaced by Quicktender/usemywallet which ended up stealing everyone’s money. BEWARE of Ecocard from any country
• Epassporte – April 11, 08 – After almost two years of accepting US poker sites deposits after the UIGEA passed they have officially stopped.
• Ewalletxpress – Nov 17, 2010 – Dropped US gambling transactions
• Ezipay – Not taking US residents
• Fastchecks – see echecks above
• Firepay – Stopped US transactions immediately after UIGEA signed.
• Fonelinx – Aug. 26, 07 – No longer accepted
• ImmediateDeposit – Mar. 19, 07 – Pre-paid teleco company launched by Carbon poker but seems to have shut down.
• Instadebit – Jan. 18, 07 Left the US online poker market.
• Instant Checks April 1, 07 – Same as Fastchecks, echecks or Quickdeposit, they are all the same thing. No sites accept them.
• JCB – No poker sites use this but it’s used at Cherryredcasino
• Makeadeposit – Mar. 13, 07 – Phone card company which shut down.
• Mastercard – Feb 3, ‘10 – Works only at some sites such as Betonline.com
• Merchant Banks – Any Merchant Banks that operate with gaming sites will be closed by RBS and Barclays. This is for the UK.
• Moneybookers – Oct. 25, 06 – They suspended US gamblers from making transactions.
• Moneygram – April 4, 07 – US accepted. Being accepted at Betonline.com
• MyCitadel – Jan. 17, 07 – Stopped all gambling transactions for US residents after Neteller closed to US gamblers.
• MypayLinq – Added by Bodog.com (for sports, and casino) in August of 2010.
• MyWebATM – May 19, 07 – Was first introduced by Full Tilt but they have since stopped accepting US deposits.
• Neteller – Jan. 18, 07 – Completely left the US market. Biggest loss for US poker player deposit methods.
• Netspend – May 29, 2010 – Netspend leaves the US market
• Nexum – Jan. 18, 07 – They have dropped US players
• Nucharge – A pre-paid teleco company that was used at Bodog but has since ceased.
• Payspark – Jan 26, 07 – Payspark (Ezipay) is not taking US customers any longer.
• Paypal – They stopped taking gambling transactions many years ago.
• Paytru / Prepaid Visa - Dec. 7, 07 – Stopped being used as an option on December 14th, 2007 by Pokerstars.
• Pic-Club – Aug 17, 07 (picclub.com) Updated – Oct. 15, 2009 – Said their services follow UIGEA guidelines and allow US players to make deposits. Used primarily by Luvinpoker.com
• Pindebit – June 18, ‘10Previous used by Carbon poker but not anymore.
• Primapin Feb 27, 08 – Disabled by US poker sites, might work at Rushmorecasino
• Quicktender – Aug. 9, 07 – They shut down mid 2011 and scammed players out of six figures in funds. Connected to Ecocard, avoid at all costs.
• Togglecard – April 18, 09 – No longer in use
• Usemywallet – Aug 9, 07 – See quicktender above.
• Ultraprepaid – Prepaid type inhouse phone card only used once used for US deposits at Full Tilt
• UsemyBank – They are a Canadian company and don’t accept US transactions
• Visa Gift Cards – July 28, 07 – Blocks all gaming transactions
• Visa – Hit or miss in usage, best bet is at Betonline.com.
• Virtualpin – Prepaid phone card deposit option in use by Bovada.lv casino and sportsbook
• Western Union – Pretty much accepted at most US sites
• Wire/ Cash Transfer – Accepted at most sites.

IV. Other Poker Sites Accepting Americans

Updated Jan 27, 2012 – If you don’t see the site on this list they do not accept US players or are not a popular enough poker site to list.

• 7sultanspoker
• Aced.com – Went bankrupt but was purchased by Carbon Poker (Merge Network)
• Allinpoker – Out of business
• AmericasCardroom Oct. 2011 – Under Caution: Reopened after closing in May of 2007, they have acquired Doylesroom. I do not trust either site.
• AbsolutePoker
• Aceflush Poker – Out of business
• Battlefield Poker – Went out of business
• Bugsysclub – On March 24, 2009 they closed and transferred players to Pokerstars. Sad because Bugsyclub was on eof the last sites to have poker on linux.
• BetedPoker
• BetonUSA
• BetUS Poker – On the Cake Network
• BigBet Poker – Closed down Jan ‘11
• Bodog – Take US players but won’t go out of their way to get poker players to deposit because of player value compared to their casino and sportsbook.
• Bookmaker – New site with some sites selling their US players to them (americascardroom, betcris etc.)
• Butcher Poker
• Cake Poker – Blocks Kentucky, but accepts the USA
  
• Captain Cook
• Carbon Poker – Skin of poker.com and will continue to accept US players
• Cardspike – Went out of business for defrauding players and affiliates in a scandal with casinoaffiliateprograms.com.
• Crazy Poker
• Colosseum Poker
• Doylesroom – Under caution warning: The .com version was shut down by US government but they changed to a .ag domain, recently purchased by shady group called Americascardroom
• Duplicatepoker – Closed down
• EuroLinx – Not accepting new US players
• Full Tilt Poker
• Gamesgrid – Now a casino
• GamingClub Poker
• Gold Chip Network
• GoldenTigerPoker
• GoldenRiviera
• Gutshotpoker – on cake network
• Interchamps – Out of business
• Intertops – 5/31/2009 re-entered the US market
• Ironduke
• Jungle Poker – Under caution warning
• Microgaming Network – They have ceased accepted US players towards the end of 2008. See full Microgaming sites that have changed to the Cakenetwork
• OkUSApoker – Under caution warning
• Onlypoker – Out of business
• OPT Room
• PitbullPoker – October 1, ‘09 – Owners busted for cheating scandal, poker site closed.
• Playersonly – Closed to US players on May 1, 2011
• Poker.com – Domain was sold. Players and software transferred to Carbonpoker.com on Mergenetwork
• Poker4Ever
• Pokerhost.com
• PokerNordica
• Poker Rewards
• Pokerstars
• Poker Share
• PokerSyndicate – now on Gold Chip Network
• Pokertime
• PokerWorld
• Prima - Network of sites bought by Microgaming. Stopped accepted US on Nov. 10, 2008
• Red Star Poker
• Red Nines – Out of business
• Reefer Poker – Merge network
• Royal Card Club – Out of business
• Royalvegaspoker
• Sportsbook.com Poker – Closed to US players on May 1, 2011
• StanleyVippoker.com
• StraightFlush
• Third Bullet Poker
• Thunderluck Poker
• Tigergamingpoker
• Tradesports
• Trident Poker – Bought by Pokertime
• True Poker
• Tropical Poker – Out of business
• Ultimatebet (UB) – April 15, 2011 – Out of Business
• United Poker Network
• Virtual City Poker
• Walkerpoker
• Wild Jack Poker
• Wingows Poker – purchased by Walkerpoker
• World Poker Exchange

V. Notable Poker Sites / Brands NOT Open to USA

• Cereus Network – Known as Absolute Poker and UltimateBet (UB), Left after “Black Friday” on April 15, 2011
• Full Tilt Poker – Left after “Black Friday” on April 15, 2011
• PokerStars – Left after “Black Friday” on April 15, 2011
• 888 / Pacific Poker – Was the first to back out of the USA
• Action Poker Network – Nine.com, Tigergaming etc.
• B2B Skins – (24h poker, Redbet, Betunited etc)
• Betsson Poker - All US accounts cancelled on Oct.31, 06
• Boss Media – (TotalPoker, Virgin Poker, CelebPoker, Pokerheaven, King Solomons Poker PokerSyndicate, etc)
• BetCorp – BetHoldem etc. (There is a hold on US players money and it is awaiting approval by shareholders before ex-Betcorp players can withdraw their gambling funds.)
• Crypto – William Hill, Interpoker, Poker Plex, LittleWoods Poker, etc.
• Empire Holdings (Empire Poker)
• Everest Poker (no new accounts allowed)
• iPoker – (Titan Poker, Poker Ocean, CD Poker, Noble Poker, Prestige Poker, Betfred, Fair Poker, etc.)
• Jetsetpoker
• Kiwi Poker
• Microgaming – Quit accepting US players at the end of 2008.
• Ongame/Bwin -PokerRoom.com, HollywoodPoker and sites like Holdempoker, Europoker, Cherrypoker, Tower Poker, ) stopped taking deposits Oct. 25, 06. On Nov. 6, 06 US players were locked out of real money games.
• PartyGaming – (Party Poker, MultiPoker, etc.) Was the second poker room to back out of USA
• Paradise Poker – Stopped real money play on Nov. 13th, 06
• PKR.com
• Planet Poker -(Poker Blue) All real money play stopped on March 31, 07 for all countries. Players transferred to Bodog
• Poker Champs
• Prima Network - Some prima sites are out and some are just accepting Americans from certain states.
• Skill Games Network – Skill Game no longer exists. Sites on the network moved. Mansion Poker (now with Ongame), TonyGPoker (now with iPoker), Gamesgrid (now a casino).
• SunPoker
• Tribeca Sites – Bowmans, Paddypowerpoker, Bluesquarepoker, Victor Chandler, Betus.com etc. consolidated with iPoker Network. Don’t accept US players.
• Wagerlogic – William Hill, Betfair, PokerPlex, Playboycasino, Intercasino, VIP, etc.

VI. 14 States Strongly Affected by Poker / Casino Ban

These are US states that have stronger issues with gambling.

• Illinois – Misdemeanor offense and possibly more (felony).
• Indiana
• Kentucky – Governor tried to IP ban online poker sites. Didn’t work.
• Louisiana – Felony to gamble online.
• Michigan
• Missouri – Most against online gambling but not a felony
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oregon
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Washington – FELONY to play online poker for real money in the US
• Wisconsin

VII. New US Gambling Law FAQ

(These are common consensus from experts across the web. Always consult a lawyer before making your own decision.)

1. Is it illegal to play online poker in the United States now?

No, except for a few states. The UIGEA addressed deposit methods and financial institutions (banks) that allow gambling transactions, not the players. A US DOJ official said in a Congressional hearing it was not illegal for US players to play online. The new law makes it illegal for US banks to allow gambling related transactions so the actual legality of online poker has not changed for the player.  While it is clear that online sports betting is definitely a federal crime nobody has been arrested for playing online poker. See state bans above for more details and possible felonies.

2. Is it safe to play online poker in the US?

The following question was answered by the authoritative online gambling legal expert, I. Nelson Rose here. To summarize, he says you are not going to jail for playing at online poker sites, it is safe to cash/deposit checks from US poker sites as long as you’re reporting income.  He advises not to keep too much money in ewallets in case of tie-ups.

3. Why did Party Poker and other sites close down and Pokerstars and Fulltilt show an FBI warning sign?

Party Poker closed to the US in 2006 to protect their investors. Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker’s domains were seized (.com versions) in 2011 because the US government used an organization that oversees .com domains where if the government believes they are committing a felony, they can go through ICANN to take away the site. It’s basically guilty until proven innocent instead innocent until proven guilty.

4. So what is the deal now? Is poker banned and what happens next?

2012 Update: Poker has been legalized in the USA. There are no US based operations but they are expected towards the end of 2012. You can still play legally online at Betonline.com for now but depositing can be a bit hard, but not illegal.

People are still playing online poker just fine.  Now that the UIGEA has passed, we are seeing poker sites like the WSOP opening poker rooms online for UK players only.  People like Harrah’s Entertainment will now lobby “for” poker and online casinos, whereas before they were “against” it.  They went from paying lobbyists to help the UIGEA to paying to have legalized internet poker in the US. The final regulations have since been released (view final regulations its a .pdf). Banks now have  to fully comply with the final regulations. Here is the latest article written on how these regulations will impact US poker players. It is titled, “Final UIGEA Regulations; Nothing Changes“. Also here is an older article talking about when the regulations were first proposed. (Gambling Law Professor’s view of the proposed regulations)

5. Why are some states not accepted at certain online casinos and poker rooms?

The reason some operators have excluded certain sites and not the whole US population is because they are interpreting the law differently. Because the law addresses “Unlawful Gambling”, the internet poker sites like Bodogpoker.com (now Bovada) feel they are not breaking any laws and therefore operate in some states, and not in others.

VIII. List of Past Poker Site Traffic: Timeline

IX. Archived Hourly Updates

January 27, 2011

The PPA came out with a survey that was kind of interesting, but not the best way to conduct a survey if you ask me. Let me get to their survey. The PPA surveyed its members and 90% of the people support Federal licensing of online poker. Like many of the readers here, the answers are skewed because most of the people who joined the PPA were most likely screwed by one of the sites in the past few years whether it be Full Tilt money being held, ewallets frozen, or Absolute poker fraud. In any case just remember, the main reason so many people got the shaft was because the government stepped in and seized so much money over the years, putting massive burden on these poker companies. If it weren’t for the US Department of Justice and their shock and awe type of runs on the poker players funds, its very likely most of the online poker rooms wouldn’t have ended up in the situation they are now in. Basically the government fucked poker players, and now we need protection from, well, the government. So while the majority want Federal licensing just remember who caused this mass downfall of online poker in the US.

With that said, I’ve recently noticed from a business standpoint more and more people looking for poker related stuff. I believe all the news about poker now being ‘legal’ in the major outlets is pushing this. There has definitely been an uptick in the post-December poker Wire Act’s stance on internet poker.

It also seems that Chris Ferguson, poker player and part owner of Full Tilt Poker, siphoned about $45 million out of Full Tilt starting in 2007. Where that money is, nobody knows. This could potentially lead to a non-deal with the potential new owner of Full Tilt, Bernard Tapie according to Subject-Poker. How any of these previous FTP owners didn’t know US poker would eventually come to an end is beyond me. I can recall speaking with a large gaming friend and even we knew it would eventually come crashing down. Greed causes blindness I guess.

January 16, 2011

The lobbyists are out and pushing for federal legislation of internet poker early this week. Both MGM and Caesars are also backing federal legislation. While I hate anything to do with the government for online poker to work on a large scale it does need to be on a federal level in order to more effectively have a real poker room for all US players and not just people playing each other online in their own states. The states obviously want all the tax money to themselves…

January 14, 2011

Ok so here is something new that I don’t think even the large companies have been taking into account. I continue to read how the US gambling market is valued at $6 billion dollars. It ranges, but that’s about the number they keep coming up with. This number seems to be derived from the loss in stock value back in 2006 during the UIGEA. OK, for starters people in the US still gambled online after the UIGEA so the number is instantly off. The $6 billion that left public companies simply went to private companies where US players were already active. That’s not the main point I’d like to make. The US online gambling market is MUCH LARGER THAN $6B, Reuters believes it will jump to $10B but that is still low. Here is why, and if you’re a poker player or someone looking to get into making money playing poker this analysis is important to you, it’s not just businesses that will make money with an increased market value but good poker players especially.

Those actually in the gambling market who currently accept bets or affiliates to US gaming sites know the biggest obstacle is finding a way for people to fund and withdraw from their accounts (thanks UIGEA). Aside from the fact most people are scared to deposit because of what happened in April with Full Tilt and Absolute Poker (thanks Black Friday), it is very difficult to deposit online. Let me give you some stats that I have.

From the United States, poker players deposit on average 15% of the time. That means if they go to a poker room and signup, there is a 15% chance they will play for real money. What all the ‘experts’ aren’t accounting for is that this 15% would be extremely higher in a regulated market. Only 15% are depositing because restrictions of the UIGEA that still block foreign gambling deposits. We’re not going to assume anything here. In the United Kingdom sports bettors deposit at a rate of up to 90%, and even higher. Of course most people who signup at a bookmaker are going to bet, otherwise what’s the point of signing up? Let’s transfer that to the United States. In the USA, sports bettors only deposit at a rate of 20%. That’s a 70% difference, and it’s simply because of the ease of depositing (legally) in the UK vs the illegality of depositing in the US and how hard it is to deposit from the US these days. Now that we have a base for numbers lets look at the ‘true’ value of the US online gambling market.

If the numbers prove correct, one would expect approximately 70% of the money made by US gamblers is being left out due to deposit restrictions. While I don’t believe 90% will actually deposit to play poker, I do believe it would be nearly 75% depositing to gamble. This means that predictions are 5X lower than expected. The true value of US online gambling would in fact be ($6b X 5), or $30 billion dollars, not $6 billion.

Now those who were around back in 2003-2006 know how much different poker was. It was almost impossible to find an online poker table to sit at for sites like Party Poker because sooo many people were playing at once. But now, it’s hard to find a poker table to play at or a sit n go because most of the virtual tables are empty. If poker is legalized in the US via an interstate method (people can play against other states and countries) then once word gets out my figures blow pre-2006’s numbers out of the water. That is of course if the US citizens are still into poker as much as they were before. While I don’t believe they are, personally I believe legalized poker will revive it, but ONLY on interstate/multi-national levels. It will be a VERY lucrative time for poker players who are even half decent at poker. The % rates in this update were taken from the US accepted poker site and sportsbook, Betonline.com which has the highest deposit rates for both verticals.

January 13, 2011

- I was reading G911 and saw a Reuters video about Jack Abramhoff speaking about the recent change in US law about online poker/lotteries. A bit shocked to see him giving an interview on gambling considering what a total piece of scum he is after he defrauded so many people in the US gaming industry, mostly tribes, but he also was pretty much behind the mafia hit on the now dead Suncruz casino founder, Gus Boulis. Anyways he pretty much says straight up everything about gambling in the US is about politics and corruption. While not really ‘news’, it’s interesting to watch him speak so candidly about how much corrupt money is exchanging hands to get online poker legalized. Here is the youtube video. I’ve mentioned it before but if you’re ever interested in a documentary about US gambling, “Jack Abramhoff, and The United States of Money” is really good.

January 3, 2011

Well I’ve been reading some of the legal minds, organizations and gaming site owners interpretation of the future of online poker now that the Wire Act does not cover it. Let’s just say the opinions vary greatly, as usual with any sort of speculating about the psychology of the US government and the players at play. Most agree we will have intra-state (within ones state borders), but not until after 2012.

I can’t help but wonder why Harrah’s and Caesars would not have internet casinos and poker in 2012. They’ve already have the framework with an online casino and poker room already operational (WSOP.com) for the past year. As licenses go out I would think they could very easily be prepared asap making them among the leaders. I believe the WSOP will become the biggest poker giant. Many believe whomever acquires sites like Party Poker (MGM), or Poker Stars would be the leader but remember it is difficult to say. Party Poker has an enormous database of US players emails, a large following of ‘play money’ players from the United States and a vast amount of ex-US players that have loyalty to the site, same with Poker Stars.

On the other hand when people think of poker in the USA they generally think of the WSOP. Party Poker was quoted many years ago as saying advertising in the United States among the WSOP catapulted their site to epic proportions. Now the WSOP will have exclusivity to that. So from my standpoint, I see the WSOP.com (Harrah’s), PartyPoker/BWIN (MGM) and Pokerstars (Wynn) becoming the next BIG 3. I don’t believe current market share will play a huge importance on who becomes big, it’s who has prepared best and has all the marketing in place when the flood gates open. Of course, we can’t rule out Google, Yahoo, or Facebook either. Speculating on this particular future will make your mind go in many different directions.

Previous Monthly Updates 2006-2011

Archived Monthly Updates

About this page

THIS PAGE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE! Any US poker sites or US casino deposit methods are for informational purposes.  Remember to always get help if you feel you’re having problems with online gambling.