The US Senate, realizing that online gambling had become widespread throughout the US, introduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act in 2006. This bill did not pass, however, and industry stakeholders continued to work to develop software and launch new sites around the world. On May 22, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Federal Wire Act prohibited sports betting but did not prohibit online poker. However, the United States Department of Justice disputed this decision, claiming that online gambling is not illegal.
To play online poker, you must first download the poker software. This software requires a small amount of memory and should not take long to download even on an ancient computer. You can also find no-download versions of the poker games on a variety of smart phones, tablets, and Android devices. Real-money poker apps are available for these devices as well. The drawback of using no-download versions is that they do not offer all of the features and functions of the full download version.
The best US poker sites aren’t all compatible with all systems. Some are Windows-only, while the vast majority of US sites have software for Macs, iOS, and Android. You can also find information on online poker in each state separately by typing the state name into Google or other search engine. The result is a list of legal online poker sites in the US, broken down by state. However, some states have passed laws that have complicated online poker.