Online Poker Legal In Indiana
Are you looking for the best US legal online poker sites or a real money poker app? If the answer is yes, then you came to the right place. This is one of our many online poker reviews where you can find more about the best online poker options.
Bovada Poker - Most Trusted Online Poker Room For Indiana. In any industry there is most usually one name that stands out above the entire field of competition. They are the ones who provide the standard while everyone else just struggles to catch up. In the field of legal online poker for Indiana residents, that name is Bovada. Indiana Legal online poker has taken millions by surprise and introduced players all over the United States to the joy of legal gambling. Poker can be just as easy or just as challenging as you make it, depending on which game you choose and how much you wager. Some believe that thrill of gambling makes the already enjoyable game of poker that.
Based on this statute, a computer is considered an electronic gaming device and playing poker online through a computer and the internet, it can be constituted as illegal gambling within the state of Indiana. As Indiana does have harsh policies against those individual poker players, it is much riskier to play poker online. The love Online Poker Legal In Indiana for gambling of all forms in the UK led quickly to creating a huge online presence. Many of the traditional betting shops opened up websites, accepting deposits online and opening the door for players to play real money games including poker, casino, and bingo. There is no such thing as legal online poker in Indiana. National laws prohibiting how players can fund their poker account and state laws specifically making online poker illegal mean that it is illegal to play online poker in Indiana.
Without further ado, keep reading to discover how to play the best online poker for money and how to form an online poker strategy. So, let’s get started!
Contents
Best Legal Online Poker Sites
- WSOP
- PartyPoker
- PokerStars
- Pala Poker
- 888poker
- Global Poker
Is online poker legal? It's not always the same as legal online casinos and legal online sportsbooks. All new players who decide to explore the vast universe of real money poker sites should know that federally, online poker sites are illegal. However, on the individual level, online poker is legal in some of the states.
Online Gambling Legal In Indiana
Some websites such as Global Poker (which is a sweepstakes poker site) are allowed in 49 out of 50 US states. Only Washington does not allow it. At the moment of writing our online poker reviews, only four states offer legal online poker websites in the United States. These are the following: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.
For more information about some of the available sites, make sure to consult our Global Poker review.
US Legal Online Poker: State by State
Is online poker legal in your state? If the answer is no, keep in mind that the situation can change pretty quickly. Unsurprisingly, Nevada was the leader of regulated online poker. Once the ice was broken, the domino-effect followed.
One by one, many states tried or are still trying to pass the legislation. As you can see, some of them even succeeded. The last one to recently pass online poker is West Virginia, and we expect more legal US poker sites to be launched in the future.
When it comes to future predictions, we believe that chances are pretty good for some of the states to overcome all the legal obstacles and finally launch real money poker sites so their residents become able to play legal online poker.
Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, New York are some of the states that’ll probably make some innovations when it comes to the possibilities of playing poker online. These are the states that have active supporters of online poker in the state senate.
What’s more, regulated real money poker sites in neighboring states can only have a positive effect on public opinion. Additionally, within the borders of the aforementioned states, you can find a considerable number of land-based casinos.
Many of them come with the best online poker rooms where you can play various variants of poker, including the most popular one - Texas Hold’em. In other words, these poker offline options make it easier to launch legal poker sites and eventually start to offer legal online poker.
States Where Legal Online Poker Seems Like a Distant Dream
From this point of view, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah are just some of the states where we can see a certain legislative hostility towards online gambling. Therefore, we don’t believe that we won’t be able to play Texas Hold’em online there for quite some time.
Sweepstakes Legal Online Poker - Play Poker Free No Matter Which State You’re In
As said before, Global Poker, a sweepstakes legal online poker site, can be accessed in all US states except for the state of Washington. This legal online poker platform was launched in 2106, and since then, many players use its services. The virtual currency gaming business model is what makes it unique.
Instead of playing for real money, players play poker free, using gold coins or sweeps cash. That’s why Global Poker often appears when players search for “play poker free” or “play poker online, free”.
To understand how sweepstakes poker works, let’s start with some poker basics and make sure to understand sweeps poker terminology clearly. There’s a difference between gold coins and sweeps cash, and there’s a reason for which “play poker online, free” is actually a bit of a misnomer here.
Gold Coins are the name for the virtual currency in Global Poker, and they are equivalent to what regular legal online poker sites usually call “play money”. In other words, you can’t cash them out, but you can use them to play Texas Hold’em online or participate in some of the available tournaments with other players. On the other hand, “$weeps cash” is a promotional, virtual currency that can be cashed out through PayPal.
To sum up, you can buy gold coins that don’t have any monetary value and can’t be cashed out. “$weeps cash” is obtained as free of charge once you buy Gold Coins. Because of this virtual currency online poker model, Global Poker is not quite considered an online gambling activity. Therefore, it’s allowed in almost all of the US.
Where Can I Play Legal Online Poker in the US?
Pennsylvania is the last state where online poker had become legal when PokerStars was launched there at the end of 2019. Right now that’s also the only available option to play online poker for money in Pennsylvania.
If we don’t count Global Poker, which can be accessed in 49 states, all the other legal online poker sites come with pretty restricted access. For example, Pala Poker and PartyPoker are only available in the state of New Jersey.
However, they are not the only NJ poker sites one can access. WSOP, America's top legal online poker site, is available in the Garden State, and it’s also accessible to all Nevada online poker fans as well. Likewise, PokerStars NJ, available both independently and within the FOX Bet app
Claim the WSOP promo code in New Jersey and Nevada to get a $1,000 signup bonus!Where Can I Play Poker Live?
Most of the land-based casinos across different states include special poker rooms where you can play live poker. Playing Texas Hold’em online is definitely the most popular option. After all, poker is an American thing, so it’s no wonder to see it available in the vast majority of mortar and bricks casinos.
In fact, instead of listing all the states where you can sit back, relax and try out your luck with live poker, it’s better to list all those where you can’t play poker online. It’ll be easier to remember this list:
- Alaska
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- New Hampshire
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
We must add that in Texas, private poker clubs aren’t forbidden. As long as no house makes a profit from the game, poker can be played in private places for fun.
US Online Poker Basics
When talking about the current status of legal US poker sites, there are two especially important laws that you should be aware of. Let’s take a look at these two federal laws that govern online poker in the country.
The Wire Act
The first one is the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act. As you can see, it passed long before online poker or even the internet existed. However, it prohibits certain types of betting businesses to operate via wired communications.
In 2011, the US Department of Justice concluded that the scope of the act was limited to sporting events. Therefore, states, where online poker is now regulated, found that the bill didn’t apply to online poker nor other forms of gambling.
However, in 2019, the US Department of Justice reversed its opinion. The new opinion concludes that the Wire Act applies to all types of online gambling.
The UIGEA
The other relevant law is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) from 2006. This law made it illegal for US banks to proceed with transactions for offshore gambling companies. That’s how they were pushed out of the market.
History of US Legal Online Poker
Online casinos started to appear back in 1994. They were usually situated in Antigua or the Isle of Man. However, the vast majority of their users were US-based customers. Two years later, in 1996, online gambling was also brought to the North American market soil.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established just outside Montreal. They started issuing licenses, and pretty soon, it was possible to find hundreds of new online gambling websites.
Once again, two years later and again in Canada, the first-ever poker online website saw the light of day. Planet Poker was the favorite source of fun to thousands of Americans who were spending endless hours playing the first real-money online Texas Hold’em.
Over the next few years, thanks to technological advances, better online poker software was developed, while the number of websites kept increasing. These online poker operators also started to offer various tournaments and cash games and got a solid fan base all over the world.
The Industry Kept Growing & Then It Collapsed
Even though there were different interpretations of the law, especially of the famous Wire Act, the newly developed industry kept growing.
The year 2003 is especially important in the evolution of online poker. Using an account from Tennessee, Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker after participating in the event through an online satellite. In Chris Moneymaker's case, we guess, it's okay to say that name determines destiny.
This online poker strategy was live-streamed on ESPN. Suddenly, the whole nation knew about Chris's story. A good number of Americans were hoping to be the next. All of a sudden, poker was everywhere on TV. Live games were followed carefully, and commercial breaks had one purpose: promoting online poker for money and playing Texas Hold 'em online.
The great number of promoted sites were, in fact, offshore online poker sites. A lot of them disappeared from American browsers after Congress passed the above-mentioned UIGEA in 2006.
However, even though a lot of sites weren't accessible anymore, online poker couldn't be erased that easily. Some of the offshore gambling companies had found a way around the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, but not for long.
In 2011, some of the largest online poker operators, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet, were accused of violating UIGEA and money laundering. These websites were definitely excluded from the significant US online poker market, which seemed to come to an end at the time.
Legal Online Poker Sites Rise Again
Also in 2011, the DOJ released a legal opinion that the Federal Wire act exclusively applied only to one form of gambling: sports betting. A few states saw this as a possibility, paving the way to regulated online casinos and legal US poker sites.
In 2012, Delaware was the first state that managed to do just that. Then, in December 2013, Nevada followed the example of passing online poker legislation. A week later, the Garden State became the third to legalize online gambling, and plans for NJ poker sites were made.
The first-ever regulated US online poker site was launched in Nevada in April 2013. Delaware and NJ poker sites went live that same year, a few months later. In 2017, Pennsylvania became the fourth state to join this group. West Virginia is the fifth state where online poker was regulated in 2019. Probably, more states will try to do the same thing in the near future.
Which State is Next?
Is online poker legal in California or New York? This is one of the frequently asked questions that people search for in the USA. They also search for different terms of poker terminology that sound unfamiliar to them. However, that’s another question that we could discuss on some other occasion.
Let’s get back to our question of legal online poker sites and the possible new markets in the USA. Michigan has made significant efforts to legalize online gambling, particularly online poker, while California, New York, and Massachusetts also seem to be moving in the right direction.
Real Money Poker App: How to Find the Best Poker App
It doesn’t matter if you are a Pennsylvania online poker fan or a regular visitor of NJ poker sites, the good news is that you can play poker whenever you want, anywhere within the borders of one or the other state.
Many of the best online poker websites have launched a dedicated real money poker app that you can easily download and install on your device. The best poker apps are available for both iOS and Android operating systems.
In order to find the best poker app, make sure you visit one of the websites we listed at the beginning of our review.
Also, before you replace your poker offline adventure with the one that can be found on the internet, make sure to read some of the online poker reviews and get to know the poker terminology used by the players worldwide. After a brief introduction to the poker basics, it’s time to create your own online poker strategy and join one of the legal online poker communities!
Online poker is a multi-million dollar industry in the United States, some say multi-billion depending on what source you trust. People who want to play online poker in Indiana are out of luck, thanks to both national and state laws prohibiting how online poker is played. According to Indiana's state gambling laws, it is a felony for anyone to host or provide any kind of online gambling website or poker room and the state calls it a misdemeanor to join at or play at an online poker site, even in some cases for free money. Anti-online poker laws in Indiana are among the strictest in the country. Of all 8 states with specific laws prohibiting online casino gambling and poker play, Indiana's statutes are the hardest to bend or get around.
Is It Legal For Indiana Residents To Play Poker Online?
The short and sweet answer to this question is 'no.' There is no such thing as legal online poker in Indiana. National laws prohibiting how players can fund their poker account and state laws specifically making online poker illegal mean that it is illegal to play online poker in Indiana. But, with that said, no one has ever been arrested for providing or playing online poker games in Indiana, but the way the laws are written, it is clear that you are breaking the law by playing online poker in Indiana.
Where Can I Play Online Poker In Indiana Today?
Plenty of poker sites on the Internet can be played by Indiana residents. There is certainly no lack of options. We have several of those sites listed throughout this site, and even directly below on the page. Find out what options and what can be expected at sites where an Indiana player can visit.
Is It Legal To Play Online Poker In Indiana
As far as poker bonuses for Indiana residents go, Bovada has the best of all Indiana gambling sites and that is all there is to it. They offer all new Indiana players a 100% match good for up to $1,000 in bonus funds. With enough good play, you can easily turn this bonus into real cash which you can put in your pocket.
Additionally, Bovada has numerous games, not just Texas Hold'em, at many different levels of stakes so it is real easy to get acclimated without blowing a ton of money. Beyond that, Bovada has those games available in numerous forms... not just as cash games, but also in tournament formats too!
| Online Poker Sites | Deposit Bonuses | Average Traffic | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bovada Poker | 100% Match Good To $1,000 | 15,000+ Players | VISIT |
| BetOnline Poker | Up To $900 On Each Deposit | 10,000+ Players | VISIT |
| SportsBetting Poker | Every Deposit: 25% - $900 | 10,000+ Players | VISIT |
Putting Money Into + Getting Money Out Of Legal Indiana Poker Sites
Chances are if you try to play online poker, you want to win some cash. To do so though, there will be deposits that need to be made. Whether you want to deposit $20 or are looking to get into some big action with thousands of dollars in your account, there are ways to do so. American players will be able to inquire to the cashier at a poker site the available options to them and pick from there. In general, you'll have some credit card options, wire transfers, money orders, and things of that nature.
The same is true for deposits. These methods for which players are capable of withdrawing will be listing out on site, for which an account holder can then speaker with customer service to get this process going. Expect checks in the mail or courier as an option, as well as other forms.
The Current State Of Online Poker + Indiana Poker Regulation
No bills or legislation has been brought forward recently as it relates to the development of legalized online poker in Indiana. This is from the standpoint of sites that would be regulated by the state. There are online poker sites legal for Indiana residents, just not operating in the state at this point in time. Our research does not point to any future plans, however that always has the potential to change.
Online Poker Legal In Indiana
The year in 2013 has been a big one on the online poker home front, in a positive direction for those who wish to see it legalized. There are some states (Nevada and New Jersey) that have taken big stances and action to move forward in legalizing it. In fact, legislation has been passed in both states, and online poker is expected to take off. How that affects Indiana down the line, we cannot say.