|
Alaska Online Poker | Alaska Poker Rooms
Recent online poker legislation has left a lot of American poker players looking for a new place to play. With the two major sites serving United States based players are no longer in operation there has been a lot of talk about intrastate poker regulation. This could allow each state to individually license and regulate their games. The states could profit from taxing the poker rooms while the players could have a safe place to play poker online. Many states have already shown they are ready for intrastate poker while others have made it clear they are not going to allow any sort of online gambling. One state sitting on the fence is the largest state in the country, Alaska. The 49th state in the union has laws both for and against poker making it fair game for those trying to pass Alaska Online Poker legislation in the future.
Currently there are no casinos or poker rooms in Alaska. The state only allows gambling in the form of bingo games. However, poker players are allowed to play in home games as long as the house does not collect fees or rake for hosting the game. Politicians have tried numerous times to pass casino legislation but up until this point nothing has been passed. The problem with Alaska Online Poker becoming a reality is one would probably need the casino bills to finally go through. It seems at this point the state and its lawmakers are against gambling. There are no laws against online gambling in Alaska making online poker still legal.
There is not a lot of poker history coming from the state of Alaska. However, on of the world’s best online grinders, Greg “DuckU” Hobson, hails from Anchorage. Three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Perry Green was a fur trader from Anchorage before he began playing in the WSOP in the 1970s. He won bracelets in two different Ace-to-Five Draw events and a $1,500 NL Hold’em tournament. His biggest claim to fame was his second place finish to Stu Ungar in the 1981 World Series of Poker Main Event.
In 2005 Green tried to legalize poker in Alaska by presenting the business-side of the game to the legislature. He felt the state needed to diversify itself by adding gaming taxes to go along with their oil-based economy. He was strongly opposed by Hollis French, a Democratic Senator who also fought against casino bills in the past. Ultimately nothing came of his efforts even though Green brought a lot of political power with him. To this day the fight for poker and casino rights goes on but is having trouble making up any ground.
While Alaska is the biggest state by land mass it is one of the least populated states in the country. This might prove to be quite an obstacle to intrastate online poker for numerous reasons. For one, without a large player base pressuring lobbyists and politicians it will be hard to change the current anti-gambling mindset. Secondly, even if the game were to be regulated it would quite tough for a state with less than one million residents to support an online poker room. It seems there are a lot of obstacles in the way in getting Alaska Online Poker legalized. The fact that politicians have shot down multiple attempts in the past along with the lack of players will make things difficult. Add in Alaska’s thriving economy from their oil and it seems politicians are in no hurry to add extra revenue from taxes. At this time it would take a major push from Alaska Online Poker players to get legislation sent through.
|
Back to top |
|
|
English
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Pусский
Svenska
