Is Online Poker Legal In Utah

admin  4/4/2022
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Utah Code, et seq.: Gambling; Utah Code 4-38-1, et seq.: Utah Horse Regulation Act Gambling. Risking anything of value upon the outcome of a contest, game, scheme, or gaming device when the return or outcome is based upon an element of chance and is in accord with an agreement or understanding that someone will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome. Michigan online poker and West Virginia online poker were also legalized in 2018/2019 but neither have not gone live yet. All six states feature a completely legal and regulated market overseen by state government authorities.

  1. Is Online Poker Legal In Utah Right Now
  2. Is Online Poker Legal In Utah United States
  3. Is Online Poker Legal In Utah State
  4. Is Online Poker Legal In Utah
  5. Is It Legal To Play Poker Online In Utah

Back in New Jersey & More States to Come in 2020?

Currently, PokerStars is only available in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Updated March. 5, 2020 – PokerStars launched in Pennsylvania and has the highest traffic of all regulated poker sites in America. It also hosted the Pennsylvania Online Championship of Poker. This was a huge series with more than $1 million in guaranteed prizes. It took years, but it looks like it was worth the wait for Pennsylvania players.

Online

PokerStars has been running strong in New Jersey since 2016, but it hasn’t reached the size Pennsylvania has. A shared player pool could really kick things up a notch though. We’ll see if success in Pennsylvania leads to PokerStars in more states.

On April 30, 2013, the poker world saw the launch of the United States' first legal online poker site, Ultimate Poker.But Ultimate Poker has one significant limit: it is only legal within the.

Legal Online Poker in the USA

Six states have legalized online poker. Out of those, four currently have sites up-and-running. Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Two more states legalized online poker but are still working on setting things up. West Virginia, legalized online poker in 2019. But online poker sites there aren’t expected to launch until 2021. The same goes for Michigan.

When it comes to PokerStars, only two states have Poker Stars software. PokerStars gained approval to operate in New Jersey in 2015. Their site, pokerstarsnj.com, went live on March 21, 2016. Of course, you have physically located in New Jersey to play. It’s play money for all other states. PokerStars NJ also offers casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette and more.

PokerStars then launched in Pennsylvania in late 2019. They kicked things off with the Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker that drew thousands of players and culminated in a $300 buy-in main event with a $100,000-guaranteed prize pool.

If you’re not in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, PokerStars could still come to your state further down the line. If you want to play today though, there are still plenty of great alternatives.

Best PokerStars Alternatives for US Players

$2000 Bonus-Rating: 5/5
$1000 Bonus-Rating: 4.9/5
$500 Bonus-Rating: 4.7/5
$1000 BonusRating: 4.6/5 -
$1000 Bonus-Rating: 4.5/5

We recommend Ignition Poker as the best alternative. A lot of people prefer it to non-state run sites since they accept players from all 50 states. Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, ACR, Black Chip Poker and Intertops also rank highly. As state by state rollouts occur, we will continue to keep you updated on when PokerStars makes it to your state.

Can You Play PokerStars in the USA?

Real money online poker play on PokerStars is only available if you are physically in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. PokerStars will be in more US states soon though. West Virginia and Michigan are the current front-runners to join the party.

PokerStars, which also owns Full Tilt Poker, is currently owned by The Stars Group, formerly called Amaya Gaming Group and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. PokerStars is partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, and their main competition in the state is WSOP/888 and Borgata/PartyPoker. In Pennsylvania, they teamed up with FoxBet, which is the real-money wagering provided by FOX Sports.

While there’s online poker Delaware and Nevada, but PokerStars has yet to get a license in either state. If you do not live in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania, we recommend Ignition Poker or Betonline.ag. They are safe and trusted sites that service all 50 states. Check out our reviews for a comprehensive look at how each online poker site. We detail the most important factors to look at when picking an online poker room.

Make no mistake. Online poker is legal in the USA. It’s 100% legal for you to play. Don’t have to worry about getting arrested.

How Many Players on Pokerstars?

PokerStars remains the largest poker site on the internet with tens of thousands of players logging in weekly. PokerStars traffic is far superior to any other poker website and it controls over 50% of the market.

The sale of PokerStars has now changed the game in the US market. It is a prerequisite for any online casino that operates with a US license to also have or be partners with a US operated “land-based” casino. PokerStars partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. Unfortunately, PokerStars has struggled with its NJ-based traffic. On the bright side, Pennsylvania has been a traffic bonanza for PokerStars since it launched in late 2019.

PokerStars also made a massive deal with gigantic casino conglomerate Eldorado Resorts, which operates properties across 12 different states. The US government has to be pleased that PokerStars is playing ball and infusing the US market with plenty of cash.

When Will PokerStars Return to the USA?

It kind of already is. If you’re in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, just download the software. If you’re in another state, then you’ll have to wait. Regulated online poker has been moving pretty slow. Even then, some states that have legalized it haven’t let PokerStars in. That’s because they have another obstacle. Some important gaming groups in the USA see the brand as a bad actor because it operated without a license in the USA for years.

The brand is still incredibly popular around the world though. The site also paid over an estimated $850 million in fines because of Black Friday. It might take some time, but PokerStars will make its way back to the USA on a broader scale.

Good Faith Will Not Prevail?

While some US states have been reluctant to allow PokerStars back, it should be noted that the company bailed out tens of thousands of American poker players. Full Tilt famously didn’t have funds on hand to repay its players after Black Friday. PokerStars then bought Full Tilt and repaid all its players for millions and millions of dollars.

PokerStars was simply a better-run business and separated their player accounts from operating expenses. It was, therefore, an easy task for PokerStars to immediately pay back its players after they were forced out of the US market in 2011. PokerStars was also better at becoming a global poker business. Most of its player traffic came from outside the USA.

This act of good faith was on top of the hundreds of millions they paid out in penalties to US officials. It was an example of responsible gaming. As more and more casinos based in the USA secure their licenses to operate, PokerStars will likely be entering several of these state-regulated markets.

When Will I Be Able to Play PokerStars in my State?

We have in-depth real money online poker guides for many of the US states that are updated whenever there are changes to state legislation. Unfortunately, there’s no clear-cut guide to when online poker will be legalized in each US state. For now, it appears that progress will only occur at the state level and a federal online poker bill is still just a pipe dream.

Some states have a higher chance of legalizing and regulating online poker in the near future, however. We keep close track of some of the more progressive states and try to give our readers some insight into which states could be closing in on legalization. You can take a deeper dive into your states specific laws in regards to PokerStars and all online poker laws with our state-by-state guides.

Online Poker USA Law State-by-State Guides

You can refer to the legal status of online poker in every US state here:
Alabama – Arizona – Arkansas – California – Colorado – Connecticut – Georgia – Idaho – Iowa – Kansas – Maine – Maryland – Massachusetts – Michigan – Minnesota – Mississippi – Montana – Nebraska – New Hampshire – New Mexico – North Carolina – North Dakota – Ohio – Oklahoma – Pennsylvania – Rhode Island – South Carolina – Tennessee – Vermont – West Virginia – Wyoming

The Entire History of PokerStars in the USA

Online

PokerStars has a fascinating history in the online poker industry with a substantial portion of it taking place in the USA.

2000s

  • Now a billion-dollar, publicly-traded company, PokerStars had rather humble beginnings.
  • It began in the early 2000s as a Costa Rican company called Rational Enterprises that was majority-owned by Israeli-Canadian Isai Scheinberg.
  • PokerStars was just one of many of the early real-money online poker operators including PartyPoker, Pacific Poker (Now 888poker) and Tropical Poker.

2003 – 2006

  • PokerStars’ claim to fame came in 2003 when an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event 2003-2006 Las Vegas after qualifying on the site.
  • Moneymaker was the first player to win the Main Event after qualifying online and helped create the so-called “poker boom” of the early 2000s.
  • PokerStars quickly became a favorite amongst poker players for its secure deposits, reliable support team and booming cash games.

2006 – 2011

  • The poker boom was stifled early on when the US government passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that led to publicly-traded companies like PartyPoker getting forced to leave the US market altogether.
  • UIGEA had the opposite effect on PokerStars because it was a privately-held company, it remained in the US market and quickly took the reins as the most popular online poker site in the world.

2011 – 2016

  • The gravy train came to an end in 2011 when the Department of Justice seized the .com addresses of three online poker sites: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute/UltimateBet.
  • Online poker players referred to the day as “Black Friday”. It would be years before PokerStars would be allowed to re-enter the US market.

2016 – Today

  • PokerStars continued to flourish on the international market and was purchased by Amaya Gaming in a massive $4.9 billion deal in 2014. Subsequently the first officially licensed online poker sites in the USA start to pop up in 2014.
  • New Jersey became the first state to allow PokerStars back in 2016.
  • In late 2019 Pennsylvania follows suit and allows PokerStars to officially open its doors to players in the state.

Unfortunately, many other states remain a pipe dream and it will likely be decades before PokerStars is allowed to operate in the entirety of the USA.

No form of gambling has ever been legal in the State of Utah, and the recent passage of a law banning online gambling gives the impression that Utah legislators want to keep it that way.

House Bill 108, originally introduced by Utah Rep. Stephen Sandstrom in January, quickly passed through the Utah legislature in March. The law makes any form of online gambling illegal within Utah’s borders. And the penalty is fairly stiff. Lawmakers agreed to make “playing poker or gambling in the state via the Internet a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.” It was further learned that, if not for the lobbying efforts of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the offense may have been a felony, as several legislators had proposed.

Utah

Taking the Risk – Gambling in Spite of the Law

Utah’s state constitution and code leaves no gray area whatsoever when it comes to gambling. Article VI of the Utah Constitution simply says, “Games of Chance not Authorized. The Legislature shall not authorize any game of chance, lottery or gift enterprise under any pretense or for any purpose.” After that, the constitution defines gambling and all its forms as illegal in no uncertain terms, and also defines those who attempt to provide a means for gambling or possess anything relating to or promoting gambling as in violation of the law[1].

Despite Utah’s clear-cut opposition to gambling, casinos in neighboring states have long since set up shop in or near border towns, giving Utah residents opportunities to cross state lines and gamble as they wish. “Several casinos in Mesquite, Nevada (in Clark County thirty miles from St. George), and Wendover, Nevada (in White Pine County 100 miles from Salt Lake City), market their products to Utah gamblers[2].”

If border states are reaching out, online gambling can certainly reach in. But Internet gamblers will be risking it all after Gov. Gary Herbert signed HB 108 into law in March, effectively making Utah the first state to opt out of any possible federal legislation that might legalize Internet gambling. “Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed an anti-gambling bill into law that was passed by the state’s legislature earlier this month that will allow the Beehive State to opt out and exclude itself from any online poker legislation that may be enacted at the federal level. One of the main clauses in the legislation stated, ‘If any federal law is enacted that authorizes Internet gambling in the states and that federal law provides that individual states may opt out of Internet gambling, this state shall opt out of Internet gambling in the manner provided by federal law and within the time frame provided by that law.’”

PPA Executive Director John Pappas said Utah’s opt-out wasn’t surprising because of the state’s anti-gambling stance. He hopes, however, that it does not start a trend. “It will be interesting to see if other states follow this lead, but I think the PPA will be better suited to fight this in other states because other states have gaming to begin with. Utah is a state where gambling is a sin. You don’t have that in other states so I think it will be much harder for other states to outlaw this.”

Long-standing Beliefs

Brigham Young settled in Utah with his Mormon followers in 1847, and since then the state has been the epicenter for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Mormon Church’s stance on gambling is clear. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opposed to gambling, including lotteries sponsored by governments. Church leaders have encouraged Church members to join with others in opposing the legalization and government sponsorship of any form of gambling.[3]” And with more than 70 percent of modern-day Utah’s population being Mormon, most of the anti-gambling philosophy remains intact.

But just because Mormon settlers followed a doctrine so diametrically opposed to gambling doesn’t mean gambling didn’t occur. Quite the contrary, in fact. According to a January 2011 article on newswise.com[4], gaming in Utah went on just as it had everywhere else before it was illegal. “In Utah, the history of gaming dates back to the arrival of the Mormon settlers in the 1840s,” said Robert M. Jarvis, professor of law at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “One of the first laws passed by the short-lived State of Deseret was a law prohibiting gambling. Gambling was an underground fixture in Utah during its territorial days, and that’s still true today, although in the 1920s Utah briefly allowed betting on horse racing.”

Outlook Not Good

With the history of anti-gambling in Utah, hopes of being able to gamble legally, online or in a casino within Utah borders doesn’t look promising at all. After the enactment of HB108, it appears as though there is little that gambling proponents can do to change the minds of the Utah Legislature and its predominantly Mormon population.

Citations and References

[1]Utah’s gambling laws by GamblingLawUS
[2]Gambling in Utah by GamblingAmerica
[3]Mormon policy on gambling by LDS.org
[4]The history of gambling in states where gambling is illegal by NewsWire.com