In a couple states such as Washington State and Utah it is a crime, but in others such as Nevada and New Jersey there is legal and licensed internet poker. The fuss is that it is illegal to OPERATE (as in own the company that provides) online gambling. Understand it is still legal to play poker in most US states. Since then, many smaller sites have closed stiffing players too. While Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet went bankrupt and closed without paying players. Full Tilt Poker closed all together only to later be bailed out by PokerStars (US players still not paid).
This saw leave the US market after getting their domain and bank accounts seized. This began on Apand is better known as Black Friday. The sites that were left after UIGEA were mostly wiped out following United States v. This is when most of the reputable gambling sites stopped servicing US residents. However, late that year the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed by the House and Senate and was quickly signed into law by then US President George Bush.
Prior to late 2006 we could play at PartyPoker, 888Poker, William Hill and all the other publicly traded poker sites.
Many years ago it was easy to find honest internet poker in the United States. Honest Online Poker Sites for US Players Top US Poker Sites
