Are There Any Online Poker Sites For US Players?
With the recent attack by the US Government on Online Poker sites, many are wondering "Are there any legal online poker sites available to US players?" The answer is yes if you follow the rules.
This week the FBI cracked down on Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet, and Absolute Poker in a one felled sweep that garnered national attention from online poker players who are left to wonder whether their money will be refunded or claimed by the Department of Justice.
While I don't have an answer about the funds being released to the poker players, I can say that the crackdown was on those sites who were skirting gaming laws and banking regulations by using false companies set up to take poker players funds through offshore accounts and illegal deposits collected by US banks. Had these entities followed US banking regulations the DOJ might not have ever went after them at all.
The US banking industry and their offshore counter parts previously had not been allowed to accept funds for online poker sites, although in the FBI investigation they found a few that were accepting the funds disguised as online purchases for golf balls and phone cards. This practice by the banks is an illegal transaction against US banking regulations and is why the banks AND the online poker sites were seized.
This leads to the question again "Are there any Online Poker Sites Available to US Players?" The answer is yes, there are a few that are still operating and continue to accept US poker players.
One Online Poker Site I can recommend is Carbon Poker. They guarantee the Poker Players investment and are out of reach of the US gaming laws making their website address unable to be seized by US authorities.
With the FBI crackdown focusing on the larger Online Poker sites, it's a safe bet to say it will be a long time before they figure out a way to regulate ALL the Online Poker Sites. And until they do, US poker players still have time to enjoy their American pastime in their own homes at their leisure.
About the Author:
Tom Palmieri is an avid online poker player and invites US poker players to join him at Carbon Poker and exercise their right to play.