The UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was signed into law by US President George Bush Jr. in October 13. The Act makes it illegal for online gambling facilities to accept wagers from the United States if the underlying gambling activity violates federal, state or tribal law. According to the law, the site is liable for accepting wagers associated with illegal online gambling activity. After this law was enforced, the activity of many US online poker rooms and Internet casinos accepting US clients was made more complicated. M
any European based online casinos are not willing to accept US players because of the legal complications that may arise from the different federal laws. Of course there are many US based online poker rooms to serve the needs of the American gambling public.
Two of the most popular US based online poker sites are PokerStars and Sportsbook Poker. The latter one is the poker room of the larger gambling chain Sportsbook.com which is a sports-book, race-book and casino site that has been operating since 1997. Today it boasts over one million members. The Sportsbook Poker room opened in 2006 on the Cake poker network and has grown very quickly, offering maybe the loosest games available online today. The players are recruited from the sports-book and casino clientele, so a large portion of the players are beginners and very easy to beat.
PokerStars is the largest online poker site in the world although it's not part of any large gambling network. The world-famous room offers huge volume in cash games, great promotions and an exceptional loyalty program. It has a huge selection of merchandise, special events and qualifiers to all major poker tournaments. PokerStars sponsors many of the world’s most famous poker players, including Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein and Chris Moneymaker. Player statistics made in April 2008 show 22,500 tournament players at the site at peak hours. |
