Legal Stance of Poker in Alaska

Alaska has never been described as a gambling-rich location; however, they do not have any laws that strictly forbid poker players from gambling online. The Alaskan gambling laws, statues 11.16.XXX, are all based on brick and mortar type casinos and forms of gambling such as poker games run in a physical setting within Alaska, but they do not mention anything about internet gambling. This means residents of Alaska can play poker online, and have been playing ever since the legislation regarding Online Gambling was clarified.

Alaska Run Poker Sites

Estimated Date of Legalized Online Poker in Alaska: 2020-2021

The Alaskan government has no stance whatsoever on the regulation or the implementation of online poker sites. In fact, they are very neutral when it comes to online gambling as a whole. They have not taken any steps towards the creation of any laws that may make online poker, or gambling, illegal for residents in Alaska. However, they have not taken any steps towards making any improvements towards the promotion of online poker and gambling. With this very neutral stance, it can be said that Alaska has no intentions of running their own poker sites any time soon.

Land Based Casinos and Businesses

With the enforcement and permission due to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1986, there are currently no casinos operating in Alaska. Alaska is a very fickle state when it comes to regular brick and mortar casinos and gambling. The Alaskan gambling laws state that the only form of gambling allowed in this state is small-scale bingo games and raffles; these are only allowed when they are used to raise money during charity events. As Alaska is a big port town, many gamblers would use ships and cruises as a way of gambling without restrictions. In 1995, there was an amendment that applies only to Alaska, where they could only ban gambling if the ship was docked or within three miles off the Alaskan shore.

Alaska does not have a very big population, and although it is concentrated in the main cities, there is not much of an incentive to create larger scale land based casinos. The population of Alaska is currently around 720,000 people, where maybe half are eligible to gamble; it is definitely not a big market for casinos.

Tribal Stances and Possible Conflicts

There are a lot of different Native American tribes that reside in Alaska, and going along with the Acts that allow them to create and operate casinos. However, due to the strict laws regulating gambling in land based casinos, these Indian casinos are limited to using bingo and raffles as forms of revenue through their casinos. It would seem these Native American tribes do not depend solely on the income generated by the casinos to use for economic growth. There are no other types of casinos that are allowed to operate within Alaskan borders, so the Native American tribes still have a monopoly in this regard.

There has been some controversy due to the fact that Alaska is surrounded by water, and their gambling laws are unable to be enforced outside of a 3-mile radius around its borders. This means that ships and cruises that are used for gambling simply have to step out of the 3-mile radius, into international waters, and be able to gamble unrestricted. So far, there have been no problems between the Indian community and any other entity seeking to create casinos. The tribal conflicts go beyond gambling, and more into the realm of land preservation against oil companies.