The big question in the US is, where are all the legal online poker rooms? The question of legal poker sites, especially in light of the online poker ban on playing poker online in the US, has dominated poker news in recent months, and raises the question – what is going to happen to existing poker rooms if the US does legalize and regulate online poker?
This is a serious question because many experts do believe that it is only a matter of time before this happens. While the US government seems to be hell bent on imprisoning owners of online poker rooms, it is because they did not comply with the 2006 poker law that said that processing online poker payments was against the law. The question of legal online poker rooms and legal poker sites is almost an academic one. Technically, the only place in the US where there is an actual online poker ban is Washington State. As far as general poker online in the US, there is no law that says playing it is illegal. Of course, as we can see in the poker news reports, the net affect of the current state of the online poker ban is the same – many US poker players are not playing because their favorite sites are now denying them access.
Those sites that are dubbing themselves legal online poker rooms and legal poker sites are the smaller sites that stayed away before in the poker online US market, and now have a chance to make a name for themselves once the legal issues are settled. The big poker news will be about the fall of the giant poker rooms, perhaps, dealing with payment issues and executives languishing in US jails, and the second level poker rooms that rise up and replace them, working with whatever new regulations come out of the US.
The rest of the poker world is watching what is happening with the big poker rooms closely, and even non US poker players are feeling the affects. While rooms like Full Tilt Poker deal with losing access to both the US market and a great deal of money seized by the US government, the non US poker players have to wonder how safe their poker dollars are sitting in Full Tilt's coffers. Should they stay, should they go? Should they move to one of the smaller rooms not dealing with these issues?
It is a big world out there for poker, and the US is just one country. It is, however, one of the largest populations of folks hoping to play on legal online poker rooms and legal poker sites, and with the current online poker ban (or whatever name you want to give it) those dollars from poker online US play are in limbo. But the clever poker rooms will act when the dust settles and the smoke clears, and will soon be heralded on the poker news as the new poker giants.
