The online poker industry in the United States is hurting badly, and it’s all because of the UIGEA. We laughed at the UIGEA at first because it appeared to affect nothing… but six years later we are still seeing the waves caused by the Draconian legislation.
The two poker rooms to make the news last month are BetOnline Poker and Lock Poker. I had high hopes for both poker rooms but decided to hold off on promoting them as I was involved more in online casinos than poker at the time. Both poker rooms started off with what appeared to be great programs, but problems have plagued both poker sites.
You can read about BetOnline.com in this thread. The short of the story over there is that BetOnline is accepting deposits, but does not allow anyone to play poker. That would be a pretty major problem in itself, but it’s even worse because you can’t cash out. Unbelievable.
The latest Lock Poker news is something that mostly affects affiliates. In short, Lock Poker is effectively stealing money from people who promote the site. Internal disputes between poker sites and affiliates don’t normally concern players, but the blatant theft in this case is so bad that I wouldn’t let anyone I care about play at Lock Poker as a player. This company clearly has no moral qualms about stealing.
How do bad poker rooms like this continue to exist today?
Bad poker rooms exist today because of the UIGEA. The Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act has not stopped online poker, but it has pushed the industry further underground. The best online poker sites (PokerStars and Full Tilt) have either left the US market or collapsed completely.
What we are left with today are the few brave souls who continue to operate in the United States. Unfortunately, most of the decent poker rooms have stopped doing business with USA customers altogether. One of the few remaining high quality poker sites that we have today in the US is Carbon Poker.
While it’s been an uphill climb for Carbon since “Black Friday,” the site has finally began earning trust in the poker community. Recent software and security upgrades, including a mass hiring of additional support staff, has made Carbon the premier option for American poker players. While all is not perfect at sites like Carbon (check cashouts, for example, still take several weeks to process), they’re still one of the few rooms who have admitted to making mistakes in the past and have gone out of their way to make things right with both its players and its affiliates.
When there are only a handful of rooms that are willing to be truthful about their operations it makes it even more difficult to find any legitimate online poker options for USA players in today’s climate.
One might think the UIGEA has been a success based on these dire words alone. In truth, the UIGEA has done nothing good for the industry. There are still plenty of poker sites that are willing to take action from US players despite the risk of invoking the wrath of the Department of Justice.
The problem is that there is no true competition in the industry. The most successful online poker sites have left the US in order to keep their businesses running smoothly in the rest of the world. The remaining poker sites do not face as much competition now as they did once before, and the overall quality of online poker suffers.
So even though the UIGEA completely failed at stopping online poker, it has made it a more dangerous world for poker lovers in the United States. It’s one thing that the government wants to choose how we spend our money at home, but it’s just plain sad that it can’t even get that right. The interests of the people are NOT being served whatsoever post-UIGEA.
So which poker sites are safe today?
It’s not normal for me to say I sound like a broken record, but in this case I have to bring up Carbon Poker again. With everything they have done since “Black Friday,” it’s too difficult to not just flat out say that they are the safest poker site to play at today. On top of this, they are also the biggest and best poker room for US players at the moment, and are one of the 10 highest trafficked rooms in the world today.
Carbon Poker differentiates itself from the competition by listening to players, providing customer service and honoring withdrawals. These factors alone place Carbon Poker leagues ahead of competing poker sites. Until rooms like Lock Poker, Cake Poker or BetOnline (and trust me I could name a lot more) start being more transparent with their operations and start putting players first, don’t expect to see them on anyone’s short list as a “go to” place to play internet poker.
Additionally, Carbon Poker has finally built enough traction in the market that games can be found running at all levels of play. Carbon Poker isn’t as big as PokerStars was during its reign in the US, but the games are good enough for all but the highest of high stakes players. But for now they’re one of the only trusted options for American players, and one of the few I would recommend if you’re trying to play poker in the USA.
Wesley Burns is a 4Flush news contributor and is one of the most respected casino affiliates in the industry today. You can find more of his work at CasinoFYI.com.
100% up to $3,000 Bonus
Bovada is our most recommended ONLINE CASINO and POKER ROOM for US players with excellent deposit options. Get your 100% signup bonus today.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.