New York State has been a hotbed of poker for decades with a storied underground scene made famous, in part, in the movie Rounders. Live poker recently moved from the backrooms to casinos in the Empire State, but what about online poker in NY?
New York State has been a hotbed of poker for decades with a storied underground scene made famous, in part, in the movie Rounders. The Mayfair Club was the most well-known poker club, though it started as a backgammon club and transitioned to chess and poker. From there, players like Erik Seidel, Stu Ungar, Howard Lederer, Mickey Appleman, and Dan Harrington emerged with skills that took them to poker tournaments around the world. The legendary early days of poker were a product of New York underground games.
Obviously, live poker moved from backrooms and basements to casinos in the Empire State, as well as to casinos and cardrooms in nearby states. But what about online poker in NY?
This review will look at the state of real-money online poker in New York, answering your questions about poker online in New York. People often ask how to play poker from New York and when the state will finally pass legislation to legalize and regulate online sites. Those are valid questions, considering New York lawmakers have been introducing bills and proposals for more than a decade with no success. And that leaves only a few options for NY residents to find online poker games.
This page will look at the current state of online poker in New York and efforts to change it. You will also find answers to some questions about when New Yorkers can expect to be online, what options they have now, and what options they may have when the laws finally do change.
New York is known for its poker history but not because of its many casinos and poker rooms. It is known for its underground games, where some of poker’s greatest players cut their teeth in cash games.
The basement of the Mayfair Club is one of the most legendary breeding grounds for the poker players of the 2000s. People with exceptional game skills and successful business careers as lawyers or stock traders spent their leisure time playing backgammon and chess, and eventually poker. Some of the most famous among them – Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer, Steve Zolotow, Stu Ungar, Dan Harrington, Paul Magriel – emerged from those games to play live poker. They became an integral part of the poker boom.
Mayfair players had little choice to find live poker games when the club shut its doors in 2000. At that time, Mayor Rudy Giuliani carried out a campaign of improving the “quality of life” for New Yorkers by shutting down gambling halls. Players from those clubs had to go deeper underground or make their way to Atlantic City and Las Vegas for live poker.
Back in New York, gamblers could play the lottery or bet on horse racing, but they couldn’t even play poker in a casino until 2013. That was the year that New York amended its laws to allow tribal gaming. It took court cases and negotiations, rulings and amendments to finally bring New York to its 2013 agreement between the Oneida Indian Nation and the state. It was then that Turning Stone, which had been a golf resort and bingo hall since 1993, could transform into a full-fledged casino with a poker room.
In 2013, the voters of New York approved commercial casinos in the state, with up to seven permitted by the constitutional amendment. Over the decade that ensued, casinos like Del Lago in Seneca and Rivers in Schenectady opened with poker rooms. Even so, the games have always been limited due to their locations and lack of space for larger poker events.
In 2023, there are still three commercial casino licenses up for grabs. Governor Kathy Hochul has determined that they may be allocated to places like New York City and Long Island, as other casinos are located in northern New York. Casino operators like MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment are vying for those licenses.
Online Poker Prospects in New York
State Senator Joe Addabbo’s last comment on igaming in 2023 was that he was “not going to pound the drum for it anymore.” He said that his colleagues in the legislature know that the tax revenue is much needed, but they refuse to let go of the repeatedly disproven notion that online gaming would hurt land-based gambling profits.
Analysts feel fairly confident that Addabbo will introduce a new igaming bill in 2024, despite his frustrations in 2023.
A 2024 proposal’s success or failure will depend on several factors:
Lawmakers need to fully understand the nature of igaming.
Lawmakers must know the difference between games of skill and chance.
Assemblyman Pretlow should not be the primary sponsor of a new bill.
Casino operators in New York must publicly express their support for igaming.
Lawmakers should examine the results of igaming in states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan, which will disprove the cannibalization argument and show the industry’s potential.
How New Yorkers Can Play Legal Real Money Online Poker
There are a few ways for New Yorkers to play poker online for real money.
Out-Of-State Online Poker
While New Yorkers can’t play real-money online poker from home right now, there are options for players itching to get into an online game. New York’s neighbors, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have legal online poker, as does Michigan, and players do not need to be residents to sign up and play. They need only be located within the state, proven by geolocation technology used by regulated poker sites, to play.
Players in Northern New York now have the option of traveling into Canada to play on ring-fenced poker games online in Ontario. In addition, large online operators like GGPoker and PokerStars operate in most of Canada. The broader Canadian laws regarding igaming remain ambiguous, so many Americans travel north to play on global sites with the largest player pools in the world.
Sweepstakes Poker
While real-money online poker is still illegal in New York, residents of the Empire State can find online action through the sweepstakes poker model. Operators like Global Poker offer games where players can win tokens which can then be redeemed for prizes.
While social poker sites like Global Poker are one step removed from the direct cash of real-money poker, the game dynamics are the same as online real money poker. The main difference is how the prizes are structured. Moving away from the direct money model allows the operators to offer poker games with real rewards while still staying within the gaming regulations of states like NY.
Subscription poker like Global Poker have been growing in popularity in recent years. More players are finding that it is fairly simple to use the subscription site’s currency and then exchange it when cashing out. The prize pools have been growing, which means there are bigger tournament guarantees and larger series.
While players are still waiting for poker action on the online felt in New York, there is a some on the live felt now. There are casinos with poker rooms, and at least one of them attracts a major mid-majors series.
Live poker in New York and directly adjacent exists currently in:
Turning Stone Casino in Verona (upstate): 32 tables
Del Lago Casino in Waterloo (upstate): 14 tables
Resorts World Catskills in the Catskills (upstate): 19 tables
Rivers Casino Schenectady (upstate): 16 tables
Casino Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ontario (Canada): 18 tables
Turning Stone is now a regular stop on the World Series of Poker Circuit series that travels the United States from August through May. The next stop for the WSOPC at Turning Stone is set for March 14-25, 2024.
New York Online Poker FAQs
Can I play online poker in New York State?
The short answer for real-money online poker is no. It is possible to play online poker through social poker apps like Global Poker, which operate on a sweepstakes model. Other than driving to a neighboring state or playing poker online at sites based offshore, there are currently no legal online poker options for real-money players in New York State.
Can I play online poker in New Jersey or PA?
Yes. Both the neighboring states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania have legalized online poker with vibrant online scenes involving several competing operators, like BetMGM, PokerStars, and WSOP While New Yorkers have to travel to one of those states to be able to play, there is no residency requirement. As long as the player is physically located in NJ or PA when they log in, they play online in those states.
Can I play on NJ or PA sites from NY?
No. Online poker software in PA and NJ uses geolocation technology to prevent players located outside those states from playing on their sites. A big part of the regulatory process for both states involves ensuring that only players within the geographical boundaries of the state in question can play. However, there are no residency requirements to create an account and play, so online poker trips to neighboring states are a legitimate option for NY players.
Can I play on offshore poker sites?
The answer is complicated. Most global poker operators who are licensed do not allow players from New York to sign up and play, since their global regulatory status is often dependent on following local regulations across the world. Sites like PokerStars, GGPoker, 888poker, partypoker, and WPT Global do not offer online poker to anyone in the United States unless in a regulated state or for play money.
While there are some less reputable sites that offer accounts to players from anywhere, including New York, without regard to local regulations, playing on those sites is not recommended, since players may well be subject to the whims of rogue operators. With no local regulation to protect them, players on unregulated offshore sites run real risks of identity fraud, financial fraud, late payment processing, poor or non-existent bot detection/prevention, and poor customer support.
When will online poker be legal in NY?
There is no clear answer to this question, but legislation is at least in the works to legalize online poker in the state. The recent rollout of legal sports betting in the state shows promise for the future legalization of other skill-based gambling like poker. It all depends on legislators understanding the nature of poker and the benefits of legalization.
Once legalization happens, things could move quite quickly. In other jurisdictions, players have been at the online felt within a year of laws being passed. There will be software, management, and partnership reviews to complete before licensing can happen for any given operator however, so the lead-time from legislation to live online poker is probably one year or more.