Poker Legal Issues

There are many unanswered legal questions currently swirling around the world of poker. Is poker a game of chance or luck? Is it illegal to play poker in the United States? In what countries is poker fully legal and regulated? We'll attempt to answer some of those questions, and more, in this section.

Clonie Gowen's Civil Suit Against Full Tilt Poker Dismissed

According to Pokernewsdaily.com (link below), Clonie Gowen has been denied in her civil suit against Full Tilt Poker (and its related companies) by a United States District Co...

Internet Gambling Hearing Set For Thursday, EPT Prague Update

1. Internet gambling hearing set for Thursday.

The House Financial Services Committee is set to discuss two internet gambling bills at a hearing set for Thursd...

Canadian Man Charged In Online Gambling Payment Processing Case

According to a Department of Justice press release issued earlier today, Douglas Rennick has been charged with "bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses". Re...

$30 Million Plus In Poker Player Funds Frozen By US Government

A few weeks ago, many US-based Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker players started reporting that recently deposited checks had been bouncing.

Not only that, but th...

More on the Minnesota / Online Gambling Situation

Yesterday the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Alcohol Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) announced that they had served written notice to 11 national and regio...

PartyGaming Agrees to Non-Prosecution Agreement with U.S. Authorities

PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan announced in a conference call that his company has entered into an agreement with U.S. authorities.

Under the terms of the agreement, ...

Motion to Dismiss Filed in Clonie Gowen / Full Tilt Poker Case

Late in 2008, Clonie Gowen shocked many in the poker world by filing a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker.

The suit, "Gowen vs Tiltware LLC, et al.", was filed in...

PartyGaming Soars on Settlement Talk

PartyGaming turned in one of its strongest days ever as a publicly traded company on Tuesday, soaring over 27% to close the session at 176.50.

This was an even...

Anurag Dikshit, Co-Founder of PartyGaming, To Plead Guilty To Gambling Charge in US Court

Anurag Dikshit, co-founder of PartyGaming (parent company of Party Poker) and its largest shareholder, will reportedly be pleading guilty to a charge related to illegal "web b...

Commonwealth of Kentucky vs "141 Internet Domain Names" Ruling Upheld; Seizure Order Amended

Judge Wingate's ruling was handed down earlier today regarding the Commonwealth of Kentucky's move to seize 141 of the biggest online gambling URLs in the industry. The decisi...

Ruling Expected Soon in Kentucky Gambling Domain Case

A decision is expected to be passed down shortly by Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate in the ongoing gambling domain name saga. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshea...

Natalie "TheV0id" Teltscher Drops Lawsuit Against Pokerstars

Natalie "TheV0id" Teltscher agreed to drop her lawsuit against Pokerstars after the company produced evidence that undeniably showed that Ms. Teltscher hadn't been playing on ...

US Government Seizes $24 Million From Bank Accounts Linked to Bodog

Forbes is reporting tonight that the US government recently seized $24 million dollars from "bank accounts linked to Bodog".

According to the article (linked be...

PartyGaming Reportedly On Verge of Huge Settlement with the Department of Justice

The New York Post reported on Saturday that PartyGaming PLC (parent company of Partypoker.com) may be close to a settlement with the United States DoJ.

Rumors s...

World Poker Tour Lawsuit Settled; No One Really Cares

The World Poker Tour announced late last week that it had settled a lawsuit involving some of the top poker players in the world.

This lawsuit, which was filed ...

Epassporte Officially Pulls Out of Poker Business

When we last left you, there was a great deal of confusion running throughout the online poker industry. According to various rumors, Epassporte had stopped servicing poker tr...

Epassporte Shutting Down Their Service to Online Poker Players?

This story is still breaking, and we are still waiting for responses from the various poker rooms that we have emailed on this matter. We will update this page as we hear more...

US and European Union Reach Deal in Online Gambling Dispute

You may have read this headline and thought that a great piece of news was about to be delivered. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The European Union today ...

Shawn Sheikhan Wins Reprieve in Deportation Case

It's happy times right now in the Sheikhan household as a judge terminated deportation hearings against the poker player, citing a lack of adequate documentation.

Michael Gracz and Chris Bell Busted at Private Poker Game

Another day, another underground poker game bust.

This time it was Michael Gracz, Chris Bell and 69 others that were busted, as police raided a private poker t...

Bodog Has a Really Bad Day

When Bodog started experiencing problems yesterday, most people (myself included) just figured that they were having some temporary website difficulties. When the problem pers...

Aurangzeb "Ozzy87" Sheikh Gets Busted by the Police

Well-known online poker player Aurangzeb "Ozzy87" Sheikh was busted by the cops on Tuesday and questioned by the FBI.

Sheikh aroused suspicion after he was spot...

Now 888 Holdings Is Talking to the Feds

First Partygaming announced that they were going to be voluntarily talking to the US Department of Justice regarding their online gaming activities in the US prior to the pass...

PartyGaming Talking to the Feds: What Does It Mean for You?

Partypoker released a statement today, saying that they were voluntarily talking with the USAO for the Southern District of New York. It is not known exactly what they are tal...

Empire Poker Suing Party Poker?

Why is Empire Poker suing Party Poker? What happened to cause takeover talks between Party Poker and Empire Poker to break down so quickly?

First off, let's sta...

Future of WSOP in doubt; Federal Marshals Raid Binions

Poker exploded in popularity last year due in large part to Chris Moneymaker's victory in the 2003 WSOP. Chris may not have a chance to defend his crown, as this weekend, US m...