Gross gaming revenue from online poker and online table games will be taxed at 14% as a state tax, plus an additional 2% local tax. The online slot games tax is much higher, though, at 54%. The high rate matches that of the land-based casinos, but operators have been lobbying to reduce the rate for online gaming providers to give the industry a. 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. PokerStars PA Feedback (January 2020) The active PokerStars PA discussion thread available in the 2+2 “Internet Poker” sub-forum has received over two dozen posts from players who are participating in real money Pennsylvania online poker games through Mount Airy/PokerStars. Poker discussion forum with over 500,000 members and 100 different poker forums. Learn poker strategy & sharpen your poker skills for tournament poker, texas hold 'em, five card draw, omaha hi lo, seven card stud and more plus talk poker TV, and dozens of other topics. We believe it is likely that 888 Poker Pennsylvania will operate in the state and below we review the site and what it offers to PA online poker players. 888 Poker Pennsylvania Software The 888 Poker Pennsylvania client is provided by 888 Holdings, one of the oldest online poker providers in the world. PokerStars is home to the best online poker events. Each week we host the biggest weekly tournaments around, including the Sunday Special and Sunday High Roller, plus plenty more every day of the week. With all the tournaments we offer, including many with great guaranteed prize pools, PokerStars is the only place to play tournament poker online.

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Whether you play poker for fun or your livelihood, real-world casinos serve it with something that online can’t duplicate: dealers who enjoy the game as much as you do.

“You want your staff to be poker players … (and) see the room through the eyes of the players,” says Bill Entenmann, director of poker operations at Parx Casino, whose poker room generates more revenue than any other in the state “People who don’t play themselves don’t understand what the customers’ needs are.”

Pennsylvania Live Poker

Across Pennsylvania, casinos appeal to poker players not only with knowledgeable staffs but also with a plethora of tournaments, a broad range of table limits, and promotions such as high-hand bonuses and bad-beat jackpots.

Pennsylvania’s 10 largest casinos offer live poker, and a $600 million casino being built in South Philadelphia includes plans for a 33-table poker room. The rooms range from 48 tables at Parx to only seven at Presque Isle in Erie. All are smoke-free and publicize their offerings on the Bravo poker app.

Pittsburgh-based poker player David Eldridge, who has cashed in several WSOP tournaments and played on TV’s “Poker Night in America,” provides a checklist for a good poker room reflects what many players want:

• A decent-sized room that is separated from the smoke and noise in the rest of the casino
• Comfortable chairs
• Efficient and effective management, such as the handling of waiting lists or disputes

Beyond those, he enjoys amenities such as phone-charging ports at each seat, working wifi, good food options and the availability of tableside massages. While he usually looks for higher stakes cash games that typically would be offered at only one table, he says players at smaller stakes find more table selection at larger rooms.

Bad Beat jackpots and high-hand bonuses attract many players who enjoy $1-3 or $2-5 no-limit or $3-6 and $4-8 limit, but higher-stakes players often turn up their noses at such promotions.

Entenman said some view the extra dollar of rake taken from each pot to fund those promotions as “a lottery ticket” they’re forced to buy.

Generally, Pennsylvania poker rooms rake 10 percent of the pot up to $5, plus $1 or $2 for promotions. Hold ’Em and PLO are the most common games; the most prevalent no-limit games are 1-3 and 2-5, with limit games typically 3-6 or 4-8.

Internet gambling is on the horizon in Pennsylvania, with nine of the 13 land-based casinos applying for licenses to offer online poker in PA, other table games, and slot-like games. Applicants paid $10 million each for the licenses and include Stadium Casinos, whose Philadelphia facility is scheduled to open in 2020.

If Pennsylvania casinos follow New Jersey’s lead, many online promotions and tournaments will wind up bringing those players into the casino. Here’s a look at what each Pennsylvania poker room offers.

Cardrooms and Poker Rooms in Pennsylvania

Mt. Airy Casino Resort

Location: 312 Woodland Rd. Mount Pocono, PA 18344

Phone: (877) 682-4791

Website:www.mountairycasino.com/casino/poker/

Tables: Nine

Promotions: High-hand bonus

Comp rate: $1 per hour

Online Poker Partner:PokerStars PA

Real Money Online Poker: Real money on Planet casino bonus codes 2019.

Trivia: Mt. Airy’s non-casino offerings include an 18-hole lakefront golf course and a 16,000-square-foot spa, salon and exercise facility.

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $1.24 million, up by about $55,000

Parx

Location: 2999 Street Road Bensalem, PA 19020

Phone: 267-525-7300 (poker room)

Website:www.parxcasino.com/poker

Tables: 48

Promotions: High-hand bonuses, with winners also qualifying for twice-a-month cash drawings; Bad Beat jackpot; quarterly Big Stax tournaments; World Poker Tour stop.

Comp rate: $1 an hour for 1-2 no-limit; increases with higher stakes

Extras: Phone-charging port at each seat; free wifi; rake for promotions limited to $1 per pot

Trivia: New poker room opened in January as part of a $50 million project that included the addition of the XCite Center concert venue. It includes 28 large-screen TVs and a three-table high-limit room. Poker Operations Director Bill Entenman says Tuesdays tend to be the nights for high-limit games; a recent Tuesday had 10-10 No Limit Hold ’Em, 15-30 and 40-80 Limit Hold ’Em, 50-100 HOE and 10-10 PLO in addition to more than a dozen more common games, such as 1-3 and 2-5 No Limit Hold ’Em.

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $17.3 million, up by about $14,000 from 2016-17.

Rivers

Location: 777 Casino Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Phone: 412-566-4606 (poker room)

Website:https://www.riverscasino.com/pittsburgh/casino/poker-room

Tables: 30

Promotions: High-hand bonuses; Bad Beat jackpot; regular stop for “Poker Night in America;”

Comp rate: $1 per hour

Extras: Call-ahead seating good for up to an hour; phone-charging ports at each table.

Trivia: Rivers was the site of two showdowns between some of the world’s top heads-up poker players and Artificial Intelligence units developed at Carnegie Mellon University. In the 2017 test, which involved 120,000 hands over 20 days of play, the AI crushed the four human pros, the first such victory in the world.

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $6.6 million, down from $6.7 million

Harrah’s Philadelphia

Location: 777 Harrah’s Blvd. Chester, PA 19013

Phone: (800) 480-8020, Option 3

Website:www.caesars.com/harrahs-philly/casino/poker

Located on the first floor next to the Bus Lobby, the Poker Room offers 16 tables and all levels of play.

Tables: 28

Promotions: High hand bonus, typically paid every hour or half hour; Bad Beat Jackpot, quarterly Diamond Delight tournaments that include cash prizes plus entry into WSOP Main Event and Millionaire Maker tournaments or Diamond level players club membership for a year.

Comp rate: $1 to $3 per hour, depending on game and blind structure

2 Plus 2 Global Poker

Extras: Mississippi Straddle allowed on all Hold ’Em and Omaha games; “run it twice” option allowed on time-raked no-limit and PLO games.

Trivia: Only World Series of Poker-affiliated room in the state

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $4.77 million, down from $5.3 million

SugarHouse

Location: 1001 N. Delaware Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19125

Phone: 215-717-3883 (poker room)

Website:www.sugarhousepoker.com

Tables: 28

Promotions: High-hand bonus, can qualify by playing one hole card.

Comp rate: $1 to $2 an hour, depending on game

Extras: In-seat text-to-order food service available

Trivia: Regular stop for “Poker Night in America”

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $7.9 million, up from $7.7 million.

Sands

2 Plus 2 Poker

Location: 77 Sands Blvd. Bethlehem, PA 18015

Phone: (877) 726-3777

Website:www.pasands.com/en/Gaming/poker-room

Tables: 26

Promotions: Bad Beat jackpot

Extras: Phone-charging ports at each seat; complimentary beverage service; massage service available.

Trivia: The Sands, currently owned by Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp., is being sold for $1.3 billion to Wind Creek Hospitality, an affiliate of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama. The sale is expected to be final by early 2019.

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $10.5 million, down from $11.1 million

Mohegan Sun Pocono

Location: 1280 Highway 315 Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702

Phone: (888) 946-4672

Website:www.mohegansunpocono.com/playing/poker

Tables: 18

Promotions: Bad Beat Jackpot for both cash games and tournament play; progressive royal flush jackpot for each suit grows by $25 per day; daily tournaments.

Trivia: Mohegan Sun was the first legal casino in Pennsylvania, opening in November 2006. The casino and its 400-acre site are owned by Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut.

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $2.3 million, down from $2.7 million

Hollywood at Penn National

Location: 777 Hollywood Blvd. Grantville, PA 17028

Phone: (717) 469-2211 Opt. 9

Website:www.hollywoodpnrc.com/casino/poker

Tables: 17

Promotions: High-hand bonuses; Bad Beat jackpot; cash rewards for 50 or more hours played per month.

Comp rate: “Rake Back” offers cash for hours played per month, starting with $50 for 50 to 74 hours and maxing at $150 for at least 150 hours.

Extras: Phone charging ports available at each table

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $3.6 million, down from $4.3 million

Meadows

Location: 210 Racetrack Road Washington, PA 15301

Phone: 724-503-1700 (poker room)

Website:www.meadowsgaming.com/casino/poker-room/

Tables: 14

Promotions: Bad Beat jackpot, with minimum qualifying hand reduced as jackpot grows;

Comp rate: $1 per hour

Tidbits: Regular stop for Heartland Poker Tour

Extras: Poker room overlooks harness-racing track

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $2.2 million, up from $1.8 million

Presque Isle Downs

Location: 8199 Perry Highway Erie, PA 16509

Phone: (814) 866-8379 (poker room)

Website:www.presqueisledowns.com/gaming/poker

Tables: Seven

Promotions: High-hand bonuses; Bad Beat jackpot; players with seven visits per month are entered in a drawing for a $75 dinner for two at casino’s LBV Steak and Pasta restaurant.

Comp rate: $10 food voucher after three hours of play

Trivia: Room opens at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, at noon Monday through Friday; it remains open as long as there is substantial play.

2017-18 gross poker revenue: $947,293, down from $981,057.

• US Players Accepted
• Online poker sweepstakes for real cash prizes
• Visa/Mastercards Accepted

US poker sites ranked by traffic

There are currently 4 states that offer legal online poker in the United States – New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Pennsylvania became the latest to join this group when PokerStarswent live in the state on Nov. 4, 2019.

WSOP/888 US is currently the only poker site that shares online poker players between all three legal online poker states (NJ, Nevada & Delaware). It’s currently the #1 US online poker site by traffic.

Poker Stars – New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Party Poker – New Jersey only

Pala Poker – New Jersey only

US States launching soon

With the official launch of online poker Pennsylvania, there remains only one state that has legalized online poker. West Virginia legalized online poker in 2019, but wasn’t expected to go live until 2020.

The Mountain State, however, has a small population and launching an online poker room with a large number of players may be difficult without a shared liquidity pool with other states.

That may be resolved through litigation regarding the federal Wire Act.

Sweepstakes Online Poker – Available to all US Players

Global Poker – Uses a unique sweepstakes model allowing for online poker for real cash prizes and is available in all US states.

What is or is not legal in US?

Playing online poker is not strictly against any US laws. Therefore, a number of offshore sites continue to find creative ways around the banking issues created by UIGEA and continue to accept US customers.

In the years following the 2011 indictments, four states have also passed bills legalizing and regulating the activity in fenced-in markets inside state lines. Three of those states have also signed an agreement to share player pools.

In the meantime, Global Poker, which started accepting US customers in December 2016, uses a sweepstakes and virtual-currency online poker model. As a result, it is not considered online gambling, leaving it outside the purview of the UIGEA.

Where can I play poker online in the US?

Outside of state-licensed online poker sites in Delaware, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, there’s really only one legal online poker site for US players.

Global Poker

Global Poker offers what amounts to real-money online poker to players inside the United States. The site launched in December 2016 offering a form of virtual currency gaming. The virtual currency can later be converted into real money on PayPal, but players don’t start out on Global Poker buying into tournaments and cash games with real dollars.

Instead, they purchase Gold Coins which come with bonus sweepstakes prizes called $weeps Cash. The $weeps Cash can be used to buy into $weeps Cash tournaments and ring games. Any $weeps Cash earned can then be cashed out through PayPal. There are also Gold Coin poker games, but no real money available down that road.

Global Poker uses its own custom-made poker software incorporating its patented sweepstakes technology. It’s glitchy, but serviceable.

The site is strictly No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha, but there are cash games, tournaments and sit and go’s. Global Poker runs various freeroll tournaments and promotional leader boards. All of the banking is done through PayPal.

Where can I play poker live in the US?

Poker is America’s game. As a result, most states have tribal casinos, commercial casinos or card rooms where you can expect to be able to play live poker.

In fact, it’s much easier to list the states where you can’t legally play live poker. Although, even in that list of states below, you likely won’t have to look too hard to find an underground game, or a casino in a neighboring state with a poker room tucked right up next to the border.

• Utah
• Texas*
• Hawaii
• Tennessee
• Alaska
• New Hampshire
• Georgia

*Texas is experimenting with poker in private social club settings. The state attorney general has declined to issue an opinion so far, leading to sizable operations opening in major cities. However, a recent raid in Houston has cast considerable doubt on the longterm viability of the clubs.

Individual states with online poker offerings

Up to and including January 2018, there are just four US states with laws legalizing and regulating online poker.

Delaware was the first state to do it, passing the Delaware Gaming Competitiveness Act in the summer of 2012. It approved both online poker and online casino games.

In February 2013, Nevada became the second state to come on board, authorizing the issue of online poker licenses. Within a week, New Jersey became the third state to legalize online gambling. It authorized the issue of licenses to casinos in Atlantic City that allowed them to operate both online poker and online casino sites.

In April 2013, the first-ever legal and regulated online poker site in the US went live in Nevada. The site’s name was Ultimate Poker. An offshoot of Station Casinos affiliated with the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organization ran the site. By November of that same year, legal and regulated online poker sites also went live in Delaware and New Jersey.

Pennsylvania jumps on board

Pennsylvania became the fourth state to authorize online gambling. It passed online poker and online gambling legislation as a part of a comprehensive gambling expansion bill in October 2017.

Since then, there has been much legal and regulatory maneuvering in the state. There has even been an external threat that arose after the Department of Justice revised its opinion about the Wire Act’s applicability.

PokerStars officially launched in Pennsylvania on Nov. 4, 2019.

West Virginia makes it five to go

West Virginia is now the fifth state to legalize online poker. The Mountain State did so with the passage of H 2934, the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wagering Act.

The bill became law after Gov. Jim Justice declined to sign. However, the appearance of online poker (and casino) sites in West Virginia is not imminent.

Lottery officials must still promulgate regulations for the new industry. It is likely to be 2020 before any site will possibly launch.

Activity in other states

Of course, a number of other states, including California, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois have all seriously considered various forms of legislation that would legalize and regulate online poker over the past few years.

In 2018 and 2019, Michigan also made significant pushes to legalize online gaming, including poker.

The federal government has succeeded in pushing the largest global online poker site operators out of the US market. However, several offshore online poker operators still accept US players.

US online poker overview

There are essentially two federal laws that govern online poker in the US.

The Wire Act

The first is the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, aka the Federal Wire Act. The law essentially prohibits the operation of certain types of betting businesses using wire communications. Its original aim was to stop interstate gambling and end organized crime’s interest in the business.

The act passed decades before the internet or online poker even existed. However, since it governed the loosely-related act of betting or wagering using wire communications, many believed it had some jurisdiction over online gambling.

In September 2011, in response to questions regarding the legality of online lottery sales, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released a formal legal opinion on the scope of the act. The opinion concluded that interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest fall outside of its reach.

Interested states took it to mean the act did not apply to online poker or other forms of online gambling. Now, four of those states have passed legislation legalizing and regulating the activity.

That may be changing, however. In January 2019, the DOJ reversed its opinion to say that the Wire Act, in fact, does relate to all online gambling.

In June 2019, a New Hampshire federal judge threw out the opinion as it relates to two litigants – the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and an associated vendor. However, the ripple effect of this judgment is unclear at this point.

The UIGEA

The second law is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Congress passed UIGEA in 2006. It made it illegal for US banks to process transactions for offshore online gambling operators. The law effectively pushed a number of online poker sites out of the market.

Other sites stayed in the US. However, the DOJ forced the largest remaining sites in the industry, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet out in 2011. The DOJ charged them with various illegal gambling and money laundering charges, partly under UIGEA.

History of online poker in the US

Online gambling first hit the internet when online casinos started opening in 1994. The operators were mostly based in places like Antigua or the Isle of Man, but they still took customers from the United States and were only too happy to accept US cash.

In 1996, the Mohawk Territoryof Kahnawake, a First Nations group based just outside of Montreal, Canada brought online gambling to North American soil for the first time. It set up a gaming commission and started issuing licenses to online casino sites. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission helped the number of online gambling websites around the world go from a handful to hundreds.

In 1998, a Canadian entrepreneur launched the first-ever online poker site. Planet Poker advertised in CardPlayer Magazine in the US prior to its Jan. 1, 1998 launch. The first ever real-money online $3/$6 Hold ’em game was filled with US players.

By 1999, the US Senate realized online gambling was widespread across the US and sought to do something about it. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was introduced, but it did not pass.

Over the next few years, sites introduced more sophisticated online poker software, and new sites launched around the world, offering cash games and tournaments.

In 2002, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled the Federal Wire Act prohibits sports betting, but not necessarily online gambling. At the time, the DOJ disagreed, claiming online gambling was illegal, However, the industry kept growing.

The poker boom

In 2003, online poker’s popularity really took off. A Tennessee accountant aptly named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event after getting into the tournament through an online satellite. Coverage aired on ESPN, and Moneymaker’s story became a national obsession. Millions of Americans thought they could be next.

Poker was suddenly everywhere on TV, as the advent of hole-card cameras made live games more watchable than ever. Most shows were branded, and the commercial breaks were filled with spots for offshore online poker sites. The productions sold the game to the American TV-watching public and they bought it.

Then, in 2006, Congress took another shot at taming the wild beast. It passed UIGEA, making it illegal for US banks to handle transactions with offshore online poker sites. It certainly pushed a handful of operators out of the US market, but it didn’t eliminate the market altogether.

Several sites still accepted US players and found ways around the banking issues. Online poker continued to grow until April 15, 2011.

On that day, three of the largest online poker operators in the world were indicted on various illegal gambling and money laundering charges, including violating UIGEA. The sites included PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet. Access to the sites from the US was shut down, and the massive US online poker market was effectively closed.

However, it wouldn’t take long before efforts to open it up again began.

US legal and regulated online poker

2 Plus 2 Poker Forums

In response to questions regarding the legality of online lottery sales in December 2011, the DOJ released a legal opinion that the Federal Wire Act only applies to sports betting. Several states took this to mean they could consider licensing and regulating online poker and casino sites if they wanted.

Delaware was the first state to do it, approving both online poker and online casino legislation in 2012.

In February 2013, Nevada became the second state to pass online gambling legislation, authorizing the issue of online poker licenses. A week later, New Jersey became the third state to legalize online gambling and made plans to issue licenses for online poker and online casino sites.

Pa Online Poker News

In April 2013, the first-ever legal and regulated online poker site in the US went live in Nevada. Legal and regulated online poker sites went live in Delaware and New Jersey in November 2013. Pennsylvania became the fourth state to legalize online poker when it passed a comprehensive gambling expansion bill in October 2017.

2 Plus 2 Pa Online Poker News

Now, as sites jump through the regulatory hoops to get games up and running in Pennsylvania, even more states are considering similar online poker legislation.