Legal Online Poker For Oregon Residents
Oregon has one of the most poker-friendly set of laws in the United States. Casino gambling is legalized, private games are allowed (provided conditions are met) and there are even online poker laws that protect players.
Is Poker Legal In Oregon?
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The state’s Criminal Code has a dedicated section on online poker and it only forbids casino owners to receive payments via traditional methods – credit cards, checks, wire transfers or any other form of electronic payment. As long as you aren’t operating an online casino, this set of laws doesn’t address you.
Federal laws don’t focus on online poker players either. The only noteworthy law is the UIGEA bill (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) and it merely puts a ban on certain financial transactions – again, none of your concern, as long as you aren’t running a payment service.
Legal Online Poker Sites For Oregon Residents
Most online poker sites out there will accept poker players from Oregon. A lot of them, however, are a complete waste of time, and picking out the right ones for you can sometimes be a tedious job. We have gone through a huge list of poker rooms that accept Oregon residents and came with some recommendations.
Imagine for a moment that you are high in the mountaintops. As you look below you, you see the vast green mountainside rising up to you, to the sides you see the mountaintops going on for miles making a beautiful vista that enraptures your very soul and inspires you to take life into your hands. If the feeling that the great forests of Oregon give could be captured and turned into an online poker site, then the result would be Bovada.
Bovada is a site that, like the green mountains near Oregon, has been around the sun more than a couple of times. Nothing is more stalwart or sure than Bovada in the online poker world and a lot of this confidence and power radiates from their tournament scene. Bovada not only manages to have daily tournaments that are bigger than most sites weekly pots, but they also have a finale of their own that puts them so far above the rest of the competition that they look like ants. The prize pool for this tournament is $100,000 dollars, an immense sum for an occasional tournament much less a weekly one. Any players in Oregon that want to experience the zen that being at the top can bring should look into Bovada.
Residents of Oregon are getting excited about online poker. For years now Oregon has had a lot of residents who have wanted to get really involved in Poker but there just weren’t many outlets for their passion. Now with the poker room at SportsBetting, Oregon players have found their sanctuary and are flocking to this poker site for fun and profit.
The reason that SportsBetting is so popular is that it has two distinct ways to play for players of various tastes. One room is mainly for sit and go and it has guaranteed tournaments and money matches running around the clock. The skill level of players in this room run the gamut making it a good room to learn the game both from watching others play and recognizing mistakes newer players make. Once players have honed their skills they often visit the big time, guaranteed cash tournaments that run every week. These are tough tournaments full of the best poker players in the U.S. There are not as many tournaments, but they are great for people who want to play poker for the thrill of the game. Likewise anyone considering trying to play professional poker won’t find any place better than SportsBetting to get ready for the big time.
BetOnline is our top pick. The prizes in guaranteed tournaments are too good to miss – BetOnline boasts a whopping $150,000 in prize pools, and growing. Then comes the lifetime bonus guarantee – while other sites will top your first deposit with a certain percentage, BetOnline gives you 25% on each and every deposit you will make as a member. And if you ever get tired of playing poker, BetOnline also offers a sportsbook and a whole lot of casino games (3D slots, a myriad of blackjack variations, 3-card poker and many more).
The state laws permit “social gambling”, defined as any gambling event hosted in a private residence where the house doesn’t have an edge over the players and doesn’t make a profit from the game. In other words, as long as you are not raking the pot and aren’t charging your friends for sitting in, you may safely enjoy a round of poker in the comfort of your home.
Is Land Based Poker Legal in Oregon?
The left coast may not have a reputation as a safe haven for gamblers, after all, more often than not, when one thinks of a successful poker player, they usually sport a cowboy hat and a southern drawl. There’s usually more Kenny Rodgers to the image of gambling than there is Humphrey Bogart, however, all that may change once avid poker fans see what a great deal is going in in Oregon.
Oregon is one of the few states in the union where poker is almost completely legalized. Perhaps the best word for the legal status of poker in Oregon is not even restricted, but regulated. Much like the state’s policies regarding alcohol, it is legal for an adult of legal age to participate in gambling.
On the other side of the coin, if an Oregon resident were to attempt to make a profit off of hosting a poker game without appropriate licensing and authorization from the state of Oregon, just as if they were to attempt to sell alcohol without a permit, they could face steep legal penalties.
However, given the lax poker laws in Oregon, there is no reason these cannot be easily avoided. Just so long as a resident of Oregon avoid hosting poker games where they collect profits through collecting “rake” (a percentage of each pot the house takes as profit) throughout the game and do not charge admission purely for the privilege to play, it’s easy to avoid any legal trouble concerning poker in Oregon.
This means that residents are free to not only participate in poker through legally sanctioned outfits whenever they please, but they can even host their own games with friends so long as they do not use the opportunity to collect any profit aside from winnings.
Where to Play Poker in Oregon
While private games amongst friends are always an option in Oregon for great fun, (albeit smaller winnings) there are also enough legal poker rooms to make one’s head spin scattered throughout the state.
In any of these legal poker rooms, players may participate in tournaments of no limit hold ‘em for varying stakes and potential winnings. Poker purists may be upset with the limits on variations of poker offered in Oregon, but as long as you can get past playing hold ‘em, there are plenty of options for gaming in that little corner of the country.
The state attempts to cater to all skill and interest levels. Purely recreational players can participate in tournaments where the buy-in is as low as $10. Obviously, there is a relationship between the price of the buy-in and the potential money that may be won, so if an Oregon resident wishes to play for more money and against other players of a higher skill, they may enter legal tournaments for as much as $150.
Although playing poker in Oregon legally usually means having to hunt down a legal poker room and planning your day around their hours and tournament start times, this state offers many more legal poker options than other states, which is fortunate, because hosting or participating in an illicit poker game could lead to legal fines and even jail time.
Note: The information presented on this website shouldn’t be regarded as legal advice. We are a group of enthusiastic poker players from Oregon who wanted to present some facts the local media hasn’t covered properly. If you have further doubts about the legality of poker in Oregon, please consult with a lawyer. We know legal online poker will be regulated in the United States soon, but until then you need to be aware of the poker laws in Oregon.
