Online Poker Sites Accepting the USA

- Many millions ($80) are expected to be re-imbursed by Full Tilt over the next week.

- Calvin Ayre (owner of Bodog/Bovada), and probably his team of researchers have published his 2014 prediction for online gambling. Here it is.

- I made my way up to New Jersey this week for a boxing match and to test out the poker sites located in NJ, the WSOP and Party Poker. The initial reports were right. It’s very difficult. I presume it would be easier to get money onto an offshore site than a ‘legal’ one. After attempting multiple sites I could not get verified because they require you to have at least 3 ‘strong’ wireless connections from where you are playing at. Despite staying in a casino which offer multiple wireless connections none were strong enough to give me access. I’ve read on the forums as well that depositing is still a nightmare with most credit cards being rejected.

- Happy Thanksgiving. It appears the launch of New Jersey the past couple days has been decent for the poker room WSOP, nothing earth shattering. They clearly seem to be the ones who will be the largest in the US. I logged in with a NJ and NV IP address to see what was going on. They have different promotions for the $10 free and there are bigger freerolls in New Jersey. I’m not sure if that’s because of state laws, or the higher potential in NJ, I assume the latter. It’s instantly obvious how much money is involved as when you see the homepage of the WSOP’s geo location of NJ or NV. They are now a poker room – with some news stuffed at the bottom right. The sites are still nowhere near the size of, say, Bovada and even futher light stars away from…PokerStars, literally and – literally. So, looks promising for poker in the US if one large state becomes a partner. Registration to deposit ratio is a huge factor when a player sees the amount or lack thereof tables open. People want action, not a grind.

- In an effort to further the potential for Federal Regulation of poker for a uniform poker player pool the Safe and Secure Initiative has introduced a 12% tax on deposits to online gambling sites. The players would not have to pay for this, the gambling site would.

- Lock Poker is spinning lies once again. Lock Poker announced that they had stopped allowing deposits via Skrill, but in fact it was Skrill that suspended Lock from letting customers deposit. Basically Skrill is stopping players from getting scammed. I was informed this today, and am awaiting further clarification from the Skrill rep that contacted me to correct the news.

- With anticipation of poker being launched in New Jersey, the programs are starting to send out emails to advertise on sites like this one. I’ve already received two emails, one from the (name removed) and another from Income Access to promote US based programs in NJ. Until they reach a sustainable player liquidity above those of offshore sites, I see no reason to recommend them over the ones right now. The sites we recommend are safe and payouts are quick so the only legit reason to have our customers playing at Ultimate Poker or whomever is if the player pool is superior, and it is not even close nor will it be until state compacts are fulfilled. Not only that but dozens of operators are trying to launch sites. Only a couple will succeed and the more sites, the worse the liquidity. State compacts are a must.

- I have not spoken to Poker Stars, but the news circulating is that they are not on the list to go live in New Jersey on the 21st of this month when everyone else is. Personally I think they are working on the details and while others are saying how this will ‘cripple’ PokerStars entry into the US, I think it’s not a big deal. People aren’t exactly jumping up and down to play poker these days but what PokerStars has that everyone else does not is a huge database of real money players emails. As long as they get the license, they will be fine in my opinion. The only real competitor they have is the WSOP.

- Let the propaganda begin. Today I received an email from Micahael Waxman, founder of the Safe and Secure Initiative (for online gambling). The article which can now be read here makes me realize how we can talk about corruption in the American system all day long but we have no recourse. Things could be worse, but watching and being involved in this industry through media over the past 10 years has really opened my eyes to the reality of politics. Anyway, the article talks about how ‘unsafe’ offshore sites are (their competition they still try to dismantle) and how credit cards are a necessity to poker sites with US state licenses – and a bunch more propaganda that continually makes me roll my eyes and shake my head.

- The WSOP launched their poker site today at wsop.com. As of near 11:30pm est, there were only a few tables going. So far pretty slow. I could not test the software because I am not located in Nevada but it seems to use the same standard software of their partners, 888poker. This is the second Nevada, U.S.A. licensed poker site. None have launched for any other state, yet.