5 of the Best Poker Sites for USA Players - Updated July 22, 2019 1. Bovada Poker $500 100% NY, MD, WA, UT Bovada Poker. Ignition Poker $2000 100% NY, MD, WA, UT Ignition Poker. BetOnline Poker $2500 100% Accepts All! Bet Online Poker. Sportsbetting Poker $2500 100% Accepts All! Why should I choose legal poker sites? One of the biggest advantages to playing online poker at regulated sites in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey is that all player funds are just as safe as they would be at a licensed land-based casino in any of those states.
Throughout the rest of the world, the online poker market is dominated by operators who have been established the longest (888Poker), who have the biggest network of affiliates (iPoker) or who have the biggest marketing budgets (PokerStars); but in the US – where most of the online poker market is fragmented due to uncoordinated regulation – there is still the opportunity for new poker sites to emerge successfully.
Many new poker sites fly under the radar because they are launched with limited budgets or ill-conceived marketing plans, while others offer ambitious innovations which fail to capture the imagination and are largely ignored. However, there are a few new poker websites which successfully make the transition into the “mainstream”, and provide online poker players in the US with a solid and secure poker experience.
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New Poker Sites Often Offer Value
The benefit of playing on new US poker sites is often that the site will be anxious to attract a player database as quickly as possible, and will offer added-value to players in terms of opening bonus offers or enhanced rewards. Many of these larger-than-average bonuses attract new players to the game, so new online poker sites can also be happy hunting grounds for experienced players taking advantage of a fresh food chain.
There is also a potential downside to new sites – and that is that the integrity of the sites is yet to be proven. Whereas with established sites, you usually know how long a cashout will take to be processed when you request it – and be fairly certain that it will arrive within a certain time frame – how can you be assured that the site has not been too generous with its opening offers and has any money left to pay you with?
Our Guide to New US Poker Sites
Our guide to new poker sites aims to illustrate what you should look for before registering an account with a new US poker site to ensure your security and the security of your bankroll. We also provide tips about clearing requirements for bonuses offered and tell-tale signs that the promotions on offer are not as good as they appear to be.
Our advice is based on our own personal experiences of playing at new poker sites. We have found that there are two golden rules for taking the most advantage of new sites:
- Always read the terms and conditions before registering an account
- If an offer looks too good to be true, it usually is!
Why Bother Reading Terms and Conditions?
As condescending as may be for us to advise readers of this, if you fail to read the terms and conditions for using an online poker site you have no complaints if the site fails to deliver what you expect it to. Many times we have heard stories of players being unable to cash out because they have not turned over their initial deposits x amount of times or because the site had a higher than average minimum cashout limit.
Players have found that they had only half as much time as they thought they had to clear a first deposit bonus or that it was released in chunks at certain milestones rather than being released incrementally. Players have had the number of tables they are allowed to play at restricted because of their slow betting action or not been allowed to enter a promotion because they had not achieved the eligibility requirements.
The terms and conditions of an online poker site are there to protect both the player and the company who is providing the games. Yes, they are boring. Yes, they are complicated. But, if you read and understand the terms and conditions of a new poker site you at least have a level playing field to start your experience at such a poker room. Obviously, if you don´t understand the terms and conditions, don´t register for an account!
Outstanding Offers – They Stand Out
Players should be more than usually suspicious of an offer from a new online poker site that looks too good to be true. Huge poker bonuses are often the headline promotions that attract players to new poker websites, but here are some considerations you should take into account before committing your entire bankroll in pursuit of a ludicrously outstanding offer:
What is the Level of Traffic at the Site?
If it is a brand new site, there is probably not a lot of traffic. You need a reasonable amount of traffic to have the competition to play against, in order to earn the player points to clear the first deposit bonus. With no players to play against, there is no chance of earning players points and no chance of clearing the attractive bonus. If a site is that good, it will offer reload bonuses and other promotions in the future. So keep your initial investment to a minimum and come back for more later on.
101% Rakeback – I´ll Have Some of That
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Think about it for a minute. If a rakeback offer comes along that is way above the industry average, ask yourself how a company can afford to be so generous. Sure, it could be loss-leading to generate some business at the tables, but once it has committed to paying players more than they contribute in rake, how is it going to recover that money? Only by cutting corners in other areas of their service – that´s how.
Leopards Don´t Change Their Spots
The hardest thing for players to be aware of in advance is how secure their playing experience will be; however there are a couple of tell-tale signs that a new online poker site may be unsafe. Try to find out who is behind the site. Do not fall into the trap of believing poker professions who have been paid to promote it. Use Google to find out if they have a history of providing players with a secure poker environment. If he or she has a good reputation, it is more likely that your money is safe and the site will quickly be filled with satisfied players from their previous project. Avoid if the feedback is bad.
You can also check to see that there is adequate customer support with a telephone or live chat facility (avoid sites that only offer customer service by email – PokerStars obviously being the exception) and make sure that any financial transactions are conducted over a secure server. You can also use poker forums to see if any players have had good or bad experiences with the site.
Be Sure to Visit Frequently – We Will!
There is no doubt that there are advantages to registering an account with a new poker site. As new online poker sites start up, we will be updating the information on this page to let you know of safe destinations where you can make the most of these advantages. You should also be sure to follow our poker news pages where the latest promotions and offers usually appear first.
- by Sean ChaffinJanuary 7, 2020
- by Sean ChaffinDecember 30, 2019
- by Sean ChaffinDecember 13, 2019
- by Sean ChaffinDecember 11, 2019
- by Sean ChaffinDecember 2, 2019
Where can you currently play legal online poker in the US?
The following four states are the only ones to offer legal US online poker sites:
- Delaware
- Nevada
- New Jersey
There are some differences between the three regulated-poker states. Also, while Pennsylvania recently signed online poker into law, the state has yet to start running games. Pennsylvania is expected to launch in early 2019.
Nevadaonly permits online poker.
New Jersey and Delaware also spread casino games banked by the house. Read more about NJ online casino operators and soon to launch Pennsylvania online casinos.
Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania allow the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos to operate online sites. In Delaware, the state lottery is the sole operator.
Finally, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have entered into an interstate online poker agreement. Players from the three states can compete against each other only on WSOP.com.
Background for legal online poker in the US
Legal US online poker sites debuted on April 30, 2013.
Ultimate Poker was the site that made history. Nevada was the first state to host fully legal online poker. Texas Hold ’em was the only game spread at Ultimate Poker during its first six months in business.
WSOP.com joined the Nevada online poker market on Sept. 17, 2013. The World Series of Poker’s online site brought the first games of Omaha, Omaha High/Low, Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud High/Low to Nevada.
WSOP.com now controls 99 percent of the Nevada market. This near-monopoly was caused by the shuttering of Ultimate Poker in November 2014.
Delaware was the second state to launch legal online poker. There is one network powered by 888. The state’s three racinos – Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway – are skins on the Delaware poker network. Nevada and Delaware began pooling poker players in April 2015.
WSOP.com and 888 were the sites responsible for creating the first legal interstate online poker pool.
New Jersey became the third state with legal online poker on Nov. 21, 2013. There are currently three poker networks in New Jersey. One hosts Borgata and partypoker, the other has WSOP.com and 888 on it, and the third is made up solely of PokerStars NJ. All networks are about equal in overall size at any given point in time.
2018 Us News Ranking
There were three additional poker platforms in New Jersey when the state launched regulated poker sites. 888 was originally a standalone site before it merged player pools with WSOP.com. Ultimate Poker was unable to gain more than 3 percent of the market share.
The Ultimate Poker site was shuttered on Oct. 5, 2014. The associated UCasino was also closed at that time. Betfair failed to attract any players and closed its poker site on Dec. 1, 2014. Betfair still operates an online casino in New Jersey.
After a long legislative battle, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill into law that legalized and regulated online gambling in the state of Pennsylvania on Oct. 30, 2017, making it the fourth state to legalize online gaming. The bill legalized online poker, online table games, online slots and daily fantasy sports. It also allowed for a number of other gambling expansions such as online lottery, tablet gambling in airports, video gambling terminals at truck stops and 10 satellite casinos. Players can expect to be able to play online poker in PA in 2019.
What other states are considering legalizing online poker?
Several states are actively considering regulating online poker:
- New York
- California
- Michigan
- Massachusetts
Of the list above, most experts consider New York to have the greatest chance of passing a bill.
Why should I choose legal poker sites?
One of the biggest advantages to playing online poker at regulated sites in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey is that all player funds are just as safe as they would be at a licensed land-based casino in any of those states.
This is in contrast to offshore sites where poker players have a long history of seeing their funds held hostage or stolen altogether.
Brand New Us Poker Sites
There are also ample deposit and withdrawal methods that are safe and secure.
Players can use Visa, MasterCard, electronic checks, bank wires, Neteller, Skrill, PayNearMe, prepaid card and cash at the associated licensed casino. Withdrawals are processed by electronic check, paper check, Neteller, Skrill, prepaid debit card and cash at the associated licensed casino. The method available depends on the state and participating site.
Finally, regulated sites undergo far more rigorous checks to ensure that games are fair and secure than unregulated sites.
Will the federal government ban online poker?
Federal law allows states to legalize and regulate online poker. This is specifically exempted from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. A September 2011 Department of Justice opinion confirmed this and explicitly gives states the right to permit intrastate gaming.
There was an attempt in Congress to reverse this legal opinion. The effort was spearheaded by Sheldon Adelson, founder and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, the parent company of Venetian in Las Vegas.
Adelson’s lobbyists submitted the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA). The bill failed in 2016 and does not appear to have much support in this Congress. Libertarian groups, states’ rights activists, governors, state lotteries and most of the gaming industry have come out in opposition to RAWA.
Since then, Adelson and company have been working through other channels to head off online casino and online poker play. It is extremely likely that the group effected some degree of influence over the Department of Justice’s January 2019 opinion to reinterpret the Wire Act.
In that opinion, the DOJ essentially reversed its prior position on the statute to say that the law actually pertains to all gambling, not just sports betting. Needless to say, there were many parties in opposition to this opinion.
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So far, the opinion has not found much success in court. A June 2019 ruling from a New Hampshire federal court dismissed the opinion from affecting that state’s lottery commission and an associated vendor. Only time will tell if the precedent will ripple out to other interested and/or affected parties.