online poker = illegal?

[will641]

so this whole subject is very unclear to me. my dad was telling me yesterday with great conviction to never mention to my probation officer that i play online poker. i said, i was not planning on it, but i cant get in trouble for it even if i did, and that people pay taxes on it. he replied by saying something about how if people who ran these sites set foot in america they would be arrested (which im pretty sure is true).

not that i would stop even if it were illegal, but just to set the record straight, you can not be arrested for playing online poker and making monies doing so, correct?

[martindcx1e]

it is not illegal to play online poker in most states. the states that have actually banned it have no way to enforce it.

[XTR1000]

saying something about how if people who ran these sites set foot in america they would be arrested

Didnt they even arrest the founder and former CEO of Neteller when he went to NYC?

[Chopper]

yes, they did arrest both of them. but the UIGEA is set up to catch the SITES and their employees/representatives. the part that is illegal is the transfer of monies to and from banking institutions and poker/gambling sites.

there is no way to enforce the laws against the individual. and, the gov't doesnt care to try anyway. that law does NOT make it illegal to play online. it makes it illegal for banks to process the transactions.

other laws, state dependent, make it illegal to gamble online. not that those can be "effectively" enforced, either.

but, YES, you do have to claim and pay taxes on your winnings. that's an IRS thing, not a "legal" thing. and, you need to check with a tax advisor about how and how much to claim. if you dont, you run a risk down the road if the IRS catches up to you.

pretend you have a great job in 5 years. the gov't finds out you werent paying taxes on gambling winnings in 2007. you get nailed for backtaxes and penalties for some stupid couple hundred or thousand in taxes you decided to ignore 5 years ago. God forbid you are still playing 5 years from now, too.

pay your taxes, dont pay them. thats YOUR choice. but, dont say you werent warned.

[pgil]

or move somewhere that you don't have to pay taxes on winnings of any kind (unless of course it is your sole source of income).

I believe that the UIGEA is an Enforcement Act and not new laws. since online poker was not illegal (federally at least) before the passing of the UIGEA, it is not now illegal. I am unclear if funding is/was illegal under old laws however. I am sure that there is probably some existing money-laundering law that someone can point to if they want to that could apply to funding poker accounts.

I read an article about this a while back that was very good, but I have no idea what it was called or where I got it from. It may have even been linked to on this forum.