pokerstars legal or illegal

[pokerg1]

is playing pokerstars online legal or illegal in the US?
pokerstars say they continue to do business with the US but is it allowed???

[ginko]

its legal for you but illegal for them

[TreyWilly]

[ QUOTE ]
illegal for them

[/ QUOTE ]

Not so much

[wpr101]

You should be banned for your stupidity.

[lfairban]

ginko is at least half right. It is not illegal for you to play.

As to whether it is illegal for PokerStars to offer services to US customers, it depends on who you listen to, the DOJ or the District Court Judge that said online poker was not banned by the Wire Act.

[pokerg1]

so what did the safe port act actually do to poker players in the US???

and why are some people worried about being prosecuted if it is 100% legal for US players to play online poker??

[TreyWilly]

[ QUOTE ]
so what did the safe port act actually do to poker players in the US???

and why are some people worried about being prosecuted if it is 100% legal for US players to play online poker??

[/ QUOTE ]

Welcome to the forum. There is a FAQ in the welcome thread that will answer most of your questions.

[Billman]

[ QUOTE ]
ginko is at least half right. It is not illegal for you to play.

As to whether it is illegal for PokerStars to offer services to US customers, it depends on who you listen to, the DOJ or the District Court Judge that said online poker was not banned by the Wire Act.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well since some states prohibit any sort of gaming not specifically allowed then it doesn't matter if it's covered by the Wire Act. Playing online in WA is illegal. It's a felony. Or how about all of the states that have been doing busts of home games and small unlicensed card rooms. Do you really think that it's any more legal to run those games online than it is offline?

Making blanket statements on such complex issues is damaging to the conversation.

[lfairban]

[ QUOTE ]
Making blanket statements on such complex issues is damaging to the conversation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well excuse me!

It was a very general question. The poster ask about the US not a specific state.

My reply implied that it is a complicated issue and that I was giving a brief answer to a general question that could be responded to with pages of discussion. If the poster wanted a more detailed answer, he/she would asked a more specific question.

[Billman]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Making blanket statements on such complex issues is damaging to the conversation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well excuse me!

It was a very general question. The poster ask about the US not a specific state.

My reply implied that it is a complicated issue and that I was giving a brief answer to a general question that could be responded to with pages of discussion. If the poster wanted a more detailed answer, he/she would asked a more specific question.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't need to get huffy, bro. You were flat out wrong and now you're getting defensive because you're being corrected. You said:

[ QUOTE ]
ginko is at least half right. It is not illegal for you to play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see anywhere where he's indicated that he doesn't live in Washington state. It is clearly illegal there. You did not imply it was a highly complex issue. You made a very definitive statement about online poker which is incorrect in more than a few cases so don't go try rewritting history because we can all just go back and see what you wrote.

That's why I said giving out misinformation is dangerous. It's perfectly alright to use phrases like:

I think . . .
I may be wrong but . . .
I'm not an expert on this topic by any means but from what I understand . . .
You should probably do some research but . . .

See, it's real easy to actual convey your level of knowledge of the topic and still attempt to be helpful. That way when someone comes along who actually knows more about the topic and corrects you, you don't need to get into a pissing match defending your online street cred.