States With The Best Opportunities To Legalize Online Poker

The uphill fight to legalize online poker throughout the United States has taken on a state-by-state approach. Advocates know that a federal overturn of financial regulations that currently prohibit online poker websites to operate legally throughout the country is unlikely. However, those same advocates have been heartened by the results of a recent Supreme Court case which left it up to the individual states to set their own gambling laws and restrictions. This has left a clear opening for online poker to become a part of that mixture. 

Online poker is already legal within the borders of four states. Those states are: Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The results have been somewhat mixed, but the general outlook for online poker legalization remains bright. The question is, which states are ripe for overturning their own poker bans? 

States With Land-Based Or Riverboat Casinos 

All evidence would suggest that any state that already has a history with land-based or riverboat casinos would also benefit from online poker revenues. Thus, the community of online players have kept their eyes peeled on the following states that already have land-based or riverboat casinos in operation: 

• Colorado
  
• Mississippi
  
• South Dakota
  
• Iowa
  
• Louisiana
  
• Missouri
  
• Indiana
  
• Illinois
  
• Maryland
  

Some of these states have a longer history of legalized gambling than others, but all are potentially on the list of targets for those who want a change. 

Other States To Watch 

There are some other states that are definitely on the radar as well. These are states that have card rooms that offer poker in-person. When a state gets to that point, it seems almost unfair that the state would not also permit players to play via their computers as well. 

Most of the tie-up that has prevented legalized online poker from coast to coast has to do with setting up regulatory standards that all can agree to. If and when that is done, many more states are likely to join the four that already participate in legal online poker.