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Online Gambling - Full Tilt Poker

someguy

someguy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 4, 2005
2,351
21
Still here.
So, I've recently began playing a lot of poker online at Full Tilt (for play money) and was wondering a few things about playing for real money.

i. Does anyone here at MR have any experience with this? I'm curious as to the legitimacy, security, and legality of it.

ii. Does anyone happen to know for sure if it is illegal in the US?

iii. Is Full Tilt the place to play, or is there something better I could sign up with that I may not have heard of before?


I know gambling is "bad", so let's try and keep the discussion about whether or not one should gamble online to a minimum if possible (aside from any legal reasons).
 
Online gambling is currently illegal throughout the US.

As for places to play, I think most of the companies that advertise as .net on TV usually have a .com associated with them. ;)
 
someguy said:
What about playing at companies that are not US-based?
Click to expand...

All of the online poker sites are based outside of the US. Like Counterfit said, it is illegal to do so. However, I know people who still play on sites like Full Tilt still, and they haven't had any problems....yet.

I have played for real money on Mac friendly sites like PokerRoom and FullTilt in the past, and never really had any problems with security. I must admit that I haven't played online for over a year, so YMMV

You might try looking at some poker forums like two + two and see what experiences other have had.
 
I'll check those forums out. :)


So, for the sake of curiosity, if I were to input my credit card information (which I'm strongly reconsidering doing at all) Full Tilt and other 'net gambling setups would accept it as a form of payment and allow me to play?
 
Counterfit said:
Online gambling is currently illegal throughout the US.

As for places to play, I think most of the companies that advertise as .net on TV usually have a .com associated with them. ;)
Click to expand...

Technically speaking, it is NOT illegal to gamble online in the US. Instead, it is illegal for your bank to transfer funds to a online gambling site (which limits your options pretty severely). Some websites have gone ahead and just blocked all US traffic to avoid any grey area, but others are ok with it if you can find a way to get money to them (usually through e-wallet services).

But to answer the OPs questions.

I. Full Tilt is a legitimate site. I haven't had any problems with them and and they are certified by gambling associations. Most of the websites you've seen advertised on TV as free sites (Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet, Party (until they blocked US traffic)) are safe to put your money in. Its just currently a pain in the ass to get your money in and out in the US.

II. See my comment above. There's legislation in congress trying the regulate online gambling but I wouldn't expect anything soon.

III. Software and community wise, I've always like Poker Stars. The competition there is tough but a friendly crowd.

Also, note that most sites don't run on Macs (which I'm assuming you have since you're on this site). I think Full Tilt does now. Others have java applets but they're slow. And all will work with Parallells, Boot Camp, etc.
 
someguy said:
I'll check those forums out. :)


So, for the sake of curiosity, if I were to input my credit card information (which I'm strongly reconsidering doing at all) Full Tilt and other 'net gambling setups would accept it as a form of payment and allow me to play?
Click to expand...

Most likely you would get a message saying your credit card had been rejected (see my previous post).

I had a situation last year right as the US bills were passed where I tried my debit card and not only was rejected, but my bank put a hold on it (so it got rejected everywhere else like Amazon, Starbucks, etc.). It was nothing that a simple call to the bank didn't clear up but it was a pain.

A shortcut I've heard around this is to go buy a pre-paid visa card at a grocery store. Those tend not to get rejected (and will keep you from putting a ton of money in before you can win :p )
 
DeaconGraves said:
A shortcut I've heard around this is to go buy a pre-paid visa card at a grocery store. Those tend not to get rejected (and will keep you from putting a ton of money in before you can win :p )
Click to expand...

Good thinking. :)

Question: If Bank of America were to put a hold on a credit coming to my AMEX card, what would I say when calling them to clear things up?

"Uh yeah, that money came from gambling online, so gimme.

No, it's not illegal.

GIVE ME MY MONEY!"

:D
 
What I did was I went through a third party company associated with Full Tilt, I haven't had any problems with security or anything, but the company I used before (neteller) doesn't work with US customers depositing into poker accounts. Two+Two (mentioned above) is a great forum, and I highly recommend reading that.

Full tilt was pretty fast at sending out a check that I cashed out for, it took about a week to get and there were no problems depositing it.

Another option for depositing is getting a refillable cash card and using that, I've heard from a couple people that it worked for them, and a few more that it didn't. So I guess it's iffy.

One final option is a card from a bank like Higher One, a card I got through my uni that will deposit via FT's direct deposit.

Any other questions just shoot me a PM and I'll try to help you out with my experience.
 
I used to play on FullTilt quite a bit, but I left after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 was passed - not because of the law itself, but because of the flood of new players (crap players, mostly) since FT was one of the only sites to stand their ground against the US gvt and declare that they were here to stay. The bad beats got ridiculous - even in the $30 sng's.

Anyways, it's always been illegal to gamble online - which is why all the sites are non-US based and you can't use your credit card to deposit money directly. I used to go through either Neteller or ePassporte. You have to go through some hoops before you can actually start playing, but I never had a problem with them once I did. I'm also not 100% sure whether either or both changed their policies after the act, so I can't guarantee that those will work still. As far as withdrawing later - Fulltilt makes you withdraw the same way you deposit, for the most part (I think if it's over $300 you can also opt for a check - but that takes a while).. once the funds are transferred back into your neteller or ePassporte account, you can then withdraw them from there to your bank account. It won't show up as coming from a gambling site, so your bank won't hold the transaction up at all.

Anyways, good luck - just don't think that the real money games are anything like the play money. Just a heads up.
 
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