Is Online Poker Legal in Florida?

Is it legal to play online poker games in Florida? In our previous posts we talked about Florida and few others states taking steps to legalize online poker games. Last Friday representative Joseph Abruzzo filed the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010.

The legislation outlines detailed and fully regulated of online gambling in Florida. Florida would be the first state to use rules from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 to help regulate Internet gambling, if approved by lawmakers.

Abruzzo’s legislation takes advantage of the UIGEA clause that allows for state to lawfully regulate intrastate Internet gambling, such as poker and online poker games.

The Bill would allow for Internet hub operators to run the online poker sites where users can play online poker games. They will have to comply with the guidelines and gain license.

Online Poker Laws in Florida

First, the operator would have to have a business license in Florida. Second, they would have to be licensed in one or more US states. Next, the operator must be licensed to offer online poker games in a country outside of the US.

If those stipulations are met, an application fee of $500,000 would be paid to the Pari-Mutuel Wagering Trust Fund of the Department of Business and Professional Regulations. If approved, the licensee would then have to pay a $1,000 annual license fee.

Once the online poker site is set up, it would have to follow strict guide line and regulations regarding minimum age, safeguards against money laundering as well as safe software.

One of the main benefits of this legislation is that it should fully protect the consumers against fraud. Gambling addiction is one of the top problems for lawmakers looking to expand, and Abruzzo has covered that in his Bill.

The Internet site will have to set limits on how many deposits and how much a player can deposit each day, a limit on how much a player can lose in a set amount of time and time limit on how long a poker player can play online poker games in one session will be required as well.

The percent of taxes on the winnings is always another issue that lawmakers grapple with when creating gambling laws. In the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010, Abruzzo has laid out a plan for twenty percent of the winnings each month to paid in taxes.

Whether or not the legislation filed Friday passes or not will depend on lawmakers’ ability to see the future potential and reconcile their differences on the Internet gambling issue.

Online poker legal status is a major concern for online poker operators and players in the USA. The answer to online poker legality issue is not a clear cut ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

The UIGEA bill of 2006 basically prohibits the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site. As the bill passes fully into law this June, the Justice Department’s (DOJ) fight against all online poker sites, which they deem illegal, will receive a further boost as they attempt to dry up the money supply to these poker operations.

Today online poker legality is the subject of many debates. Online poker has grown into a hugely popular and lucrative national pastime in the last decade and more and more people play online poker games.

Last year the global online poker market grew by 24% to $4.8 billion. Now the bet is on whether or not Justice is gearing up to go directly after firms like DoylesRoom and the two biggest online poker sites still taking U.S. play: PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Together they account for maybe 70% of the $1.4 billion in revenue the U.S. industry brought in last year. Revenues here are known as the rake – the slice of the betting amount that online firms get for hosting games. Players who play online poker games also pay flat fees to enter tournaments. So the question on many people’s lips who play online poker games is: “Is online poker legal?“

Is Online Poker Legal?

PokerStars, situated on the Isle of Man, claims it has legal opinions from five U.S. law firms saying it is not violating any online poker laws. The company has an estimated $1.4 billion of annual global revenue and some $500 million in profit. People close to the company say a primary owner of PokerStars, Isai Scheinberg, like many online gaming entrepreneurs, never enters the U.S., apparently spending much of his time in Canada.

Full Tilt, which generates some $100 million in profits on $500 million in annual revenue, did not respond to requests for comment on online poker legality. It has deep roots in the U.S. and close connections to famous American poker players who can be found in Las Vegas regularly. Chief among them are Howard Lederer, known by his fans as the Professor, and Christopher Ferguson, a poker champion who likes to wear black cowboy hats and is nicknamed Jesus.

Poker lobbyists are ramping up an aggressive push backed by millions of dollars to legalize online poker in the United States this year, hoping to overcome passionate objections from social conservatives, sports leagues and other longtime opponents.

Those in favor of online poker legality are hoping with Congress in the hands of Democrats, who have historically been less opposed to gambling than Republicans, along with the growing popularity of recreational poker, that will work to their advantage to make online poker legal.

Is online poker legal? This question is raised by many Americans who play online poker games. 2.5 million Americans play and bet $30 billion annually. Online poker has become a global pastime, generating $4.8 billion in revenues for gaming firms last year. But despite its popularity online poker in the U.S. has been bedeviled by questions of its legality.

Many U.S. players who go online to play online poker games type this question in Google, “Is Online Poker Legal?” According to the U.S. Justice Department, playing online poker real money violates U.S. law. A 2006 law, set to go into full effect in June, expanded the Justice Department’s authority to shut down online gambling operations by going after the companies that process their financial transactions. While many companies have pulled out of the U.S., a few online poker sites, like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, have become rich by calling the government’s bluff and taking U.S. poker play.

Online Poker Legality

Online poker legality is a major concern for players who play online poker games. Online poker sites operate in the law’s shadows. The Bush Administration’s Justice Department took the position that facilitating for-money online poker violates U.S. law, making no distinction between sports betting – clearly illegal – and poker playing. These days the Justice Department still insists that “all forms of Internet gambling, including sports wagering, casino games and card games, are illegal.”

Online Poker Laws

The case law on online poker is mixed and online poker laws are rather unclear. The Wire Act was enacted in 1961 to suppress interstate gambling and bookmaking. It clearly makes online sports betting illegal. But for online poker the Wire Act’s wording is less clear.

One of the other online pokers laws the feds have used, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, requires a violation of an underlying state law – and many state laws say gambling is only illegal if the outcome rests largely on chance, as opposed to skill. Poker is, to some degree, a game of skill. “In poker the skill elements of the betting and folding usually determine the winner,” Lederer argued in an article published online.

In the end what the government usually cares about most is whether gambling is providing a mechanism for other criminal activity, like money laundering, underage gambling or cheating. If it isn’t, maybe there are bigger things for the police to worry about, other from online poker legality. For his part Doyle Brunson insists: “The poker industry as a whole is ready to have a fight.”

Source: Forbes