Unregulated U.S. Online Poker Sites Continue to Thrive

While many online poker players in the U.S. are hoping to one day enjoy ipoker regulation taking hold and spreading across the land, there are a good number of players who are satisfied with the online offerings available at this time.

Granted, worldwide favorites such as PokerStars and 888Poker are not servicing the U.S. market, but most of the options that remain have done relatively well in continuing to attract American players. With an emphasis on providing speedy and efficient cashouts, poker rooms such as Bovada and Americas Cardroom have been able to continue operating and flourish to some degree.

The potential for another Black Friday does remain, and the DoJ may at any time take aim at the unregulated poker rooms and networks and orchestrate a shutdown reminiscent of April 15, 2011. The prospect of that happening has prompted hundreds of players to pack up and move abroad to locales where PokerStars has their fingerprints, and prompted yet others to turn their backs on online poker until legalization is rampant.

No Other Choice

But in the meantime, U.S. online poker players not in Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and a couple of other states where Internet poker is off-limits who want to play have no choice but to take their chances by depositing and playing at non-regulated sites. And some of those players are happy doing so.

For instance, if you happen to be a resident of one of the three regulated states, you can play online poker only at the legal sites available, as the unregulated poker rooms have left those markets. Until interstate play becomes commonplace, that leaves the small, regulated states struggling to maintain adequate player pools under their current intrastate formats.

Many U.S. players would much rather play at Bovada or Carbon Poker on the Merge Gaming Network where tables are filled and game choices are plentiful, rather than be stuck in a regulated state where an average of only 150 cash players can be found at the top sites. Add to that the recent shutdown of Ultimate Poker in Nevada and it is quite plain to see that the current regulated format without interstate play is likely not sustainable.

Cashout Often

The state-by-state method of advancing legislation also leaves a lot to be desired. One need merely look at the glacial speed of expansion to see that unregulated sites will continue to dominate the U.S. online poker landscape unless the DoJ steps in again and takes a stand against the offshore operators.

For that reason, many U.S. players are making a habit of keeping their online poker account balances low just in case the hammer comes down again in the future. But those same players want to play online poker and will do so at the choices available, which many believe are much better at this time than the regulated sites in states that have seen across-the-board monthly revenue decreases as of late.

Getting back to the demise of Ultimate Poker, the result of that closing will likely make the states that had been pondering whether to embrace online poker to take an even slower approach toward regulation. Nobody wants to spend time and money on a potential revenue source that goes nowhere and ends up as a losing effort.

Slowly ... but not Surely

Regulated online poker in the U.S. is more than 1 and 1/2 years old. Everyone knew that the industry would take time to develop as the legislatures of individual states go through the time-consuming process of taking action. But I doubt that I'm alone in thinking that it sure is moving slowly and the problems encountered have been abundant, with no apparent relief in sight for many U.S. online poker players who clamor for regulation, but will play with or without legalization.

It makes me feel fortunate that I'm in a state where I can continue to play online poker --albeit unregulated -- where liquidity is much better than regulated states. From the looks of things, that situation won't be changing anytime soon, and U.S. online poker players in the same situation will likely cashout often and continue on until circumstances warrant otherwise.