Utah Online Poker | Utah Poker Rooms
Utah Poker News
Posted 22 Apr 2012 by PokerJanitor
Gary Herbert, the Governor of Utah, recently sent an open letter to the leaders in Congress, asking that they stand firm against the legalization of online poker. This move comes just weeks after Herbert signed his name to a bill which formally outlaws internet gambling within his state. This measure also allows Utah to preemptively opt out of any potential federal legalization of the practice.
"Gambling issues traditionally have been regulated by state governments," read one passage from
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Posted 24 Mar 2012 by Matthew LeLacheur
In a pre-emptive move against the possibility of legalized online gambling at the federal level, Utah has become the first state to legally opt out. Yesterday, Governor Gary Herbert signed into law bill HB108. This bill excludes all Utah residents from gambling online should it ever become legalized through bill HR1174 or any other federal legislation.
Other states currently have laws against online poker/gambling, but they are worded in such a way that they may change their stance in the
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If you’ve spent any time as a poker player online and you played at a major site, Black Friday (April 15th of this year) and its results have no doubt had some impact on your life. We here at FTR cannot change those events, nor do we know what the whole future of online poker might hold. What we can do, however, is give you some idea as a poker player of what might be coming down the pike specifically for players in your state. If intrastate online poker regulation becomes a reality in the near future, it will be up to each state to decide how to proceed, and so we are giving you an idea based on current and past law, plus the current gaming environment in your state, of what you might be able to expect. Today we are looking at Utah, a state that will surely have unique statutes and possible solutions if intrastate regulation becomes the answer. Utah online poker may or may not have a bright future ahead, but we want to look at their present in order to get some idea of what the future might look like.
Utah is not among the friendliest states when it comes to gaming laws and the types of establishments that are permitted throughout the state. Utah does have casinos, and they are operated by Indian tribal interests throughout the state. But despite having casinos, Utah law does not allow for parimutuel wagers, which means that sports books and other similar types of betting are outlawed. For poker players, there are two known and established poker rooms in Utah - Club Full House (Layton, UT) and the Flop House (Orem, UT) are the two main poker rooms in the state, and that’s pretty minimal coverage when you look at the size of the state. Utah online poker players had been able to log on and find a game that way until recently. But for a variety of reasons, Utah has not been a state that is eager to open its doors to gambling in almost any form.
Take for example the current condition of state lotteries in and around Utah. Utah itself does not have a lottery, making it one of the few states that does not, but yet gaming sources have indicated in their records that Utah citizens still manage to spend several million dollars annually on the lottery - they simply cross the border and buy tickets in Idaho. That’s a great source of hungry customers for the Idaho lottery, but it also underscores Utah’s probable reluctance (even in the face of clear profits to be made) to step aside and allow intrastate regulation of online poker any time soon. Utah online poker would no doubt generate a sizable chunk of income for the state, but as they’ve spurned the lottery, so they would likely avoid self-regulation of online poker as well.
That is probably the reality when it comes to prospects for Utah to allow intrastate online poker regulation. It has long been a state that frowns on gambling in general, and poker in particular (a 1953 still declares every home game spread in Utah to be illegal). Utah poker players will likely need to wait for the possibility of federal regulation for online poker, as that type of regulation would likely supersede state laws and open the door for online players to play poker. Until that happens, it appears rather unlikely that Utah will suddenly change course in relation to their gaming laws and open the door for poker. Keep your eyes and ears open for more information, and Good Luck at the Tables!
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