Many countries have tried to regulate online poker, specializing their markets by banning foreign operators or requiring license fees and taxes. France, Italy, and Spain were the first to regulate the industry, while other European countries are struggling to implement regulations. The United Kingdom is also regulating its market and other South American countries are in various stages of the process. But, what about the future of online poker? Does it have a bright future? Or does it have its detractors?
Regulatory hurdles remain for online poker sites, with states such as Michigan and West Virginia still preventing the activity. But more states are looking into legislation to make online poker legal. In the meantime, poker has come a long way since 2011. The Department of Justice chased away global giants. Today, four states have regulated online poker. Those regulations are slowly but surely leading to an increase in the number of players and legal online poker sites.
Another major problem with online poker is cheating. Players may be aware of the risks associated with cheating, but it’s often not clear how players can avoid them. Some sites have strict rules about this, but many players fail to abide by them. If you see a suspicious player, it’s time to withdraw all your money and never play again. However, there are a few caveats to this. Aside from bots, collusion, and superusers should be kept in mind when choosing a poker site.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant increase in traffic on online poker, many unlicensed gaming venues have been shut down, making it difficult for those seeking live entertainment to find a place to play. Casual players have flocked to online poker to make up for the lack of entertainment options. Many operators reported double or even triple the traffic that they received before the pandemic. This is encouraging news for online poker.
Before you start playing, you should make sure you are 18 years or older. If you’re not sure if you’re old enough, check with the poker room’s licensing authority. You’ll need to fill out a sign-up form, which will ask for your personal information. You should also select a screen name if you’re playing real money. You should also be aware of the terms and conditions of each online poker site.
Another disadvantage to online poker is that the game is more likely to have bad beats than live games. The pace of online poker is faster than live poker, with an average full-ring game dealing between 25 and 30 hands per hour. In contrast, a six-max online game can deal up to 75-100 hands per hour. Even if you play four tables at once, this could result in 400 hands dealt per hour. While these numbers may not seem like much, they do represent a dramatic increase in the number of bad beats that occur.
Other states will soon be able to regulate online poker. One such state is West Virginia, which regulated online poker a while ago, but had few operators set up shop in the state. Connecticut is another state where online poker is not yet regulated. But, as a former player of PokerStars, the company owns the PokerStars brand. In fact, DraftKings doesn’t even have its own online poker platform. If it ever does, it’ll probably be affiliated with an online poker website.