Poker Online Florida Real Money

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Players can also legally play online poker game for real money at Florida friendly online poker rooms, which are licensed and regulated in offshore gambling jurisdiction. Though based in foreign countries and not regulated in Florida, these offshore online poker sites are 100 percent legal. Visit PokerAtlas for details on every legal live and online poker room cash game in Orlando and Central Florida North America including game variants, run times, minimum and maximum buy-ins, rake and comp info, and more. Real Money Online Poker in Florida Top Online Poker Sites for Florida You’ll find no shortage of live poker rooms in Florida. There are more than 25 of them that offer various poker cash games and tournaments.

Relevant state code: 849.01 et seq.; 550.001, et. seq.

With sweeping statutes and a bevy of arcane rules, Florida easily ranks as one of the least-friendly states for gamblers. The state takes a very strict approach to regulating gambling, and has a very broad definition of what constitutes gambling:

Section 849.08
Whoever plays or engages in any game at cards, keno, roulette, faro or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree

A separate part of Florida law specifically outlaws wagering on (unregulated) games of skill:

Section 849.14
Whoever stakes, bets or wagers any money or other thing of value upon the result of any trial or contest of skill, speed or power or endurance of human or beast, or whoever receives in any manner whatsoever any money or other thing of value staked, bet or wagered, or offered for the purpose of being staked, bet or wagered, by or for any other person upon any such result, or whoever knowingly becomes the custodian or depositary of any money or other thing of value so staked, bet, or wagered upon any such result, or whoever aids, or assists, or abets in any manner in any of such acts all of which are hereby forbidden, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree

These two aspects of Florida gambling law essentially make any sort of wagering that is not explicitly authorized by the state de facto illegal.

Florida has especially stiff penalties for those operating an illegal gambling business. In addition to the various direct charges that could result from the running or participation in the advancement of such an enterprise, Florida law treats gambling offenses as predicate offenses that can trigger more severe racketeering charges. As for those who merely participate in gambling, Florida has harsher penalties than you'll find in a typical state. Prosecutions of individual gamblers, however, appear to be quite rare in Florida.

What Gambling is Legal Under Florida Law?

Several forms of gambling are legal under Florida law. Parimutuel wagers are allowed at licensed horse and dog racing tracks. Florida administers a state-run lottery, and limited Indian casino gaming is also permitted in the state.

Social gambling is legal in Florida under very specific conditions. As is the case in most states, Florida requires that social gambling take place between people over the age of 18 and in an environment where no one is profiting (or attempting to profit) from the operation of the game. Florida also requires a $10 cap per hand or per round for the game to be considered 'penny ante' (their term for social gambling) and therefore legal. Finally, only bridge, canasta, dominoes, hearts, mah-jongg, pinochle, poker or rummy are allowed under Florida's social gambling exception..

Charitable bingo games are allowed under Florida law when conducted by authorized organizations, as are certain kinds of raffles. Poker games, whether tournaments or cash games, do not appear to be legal under charitable gambling law in Florida.

Can I Play Poker Legally in Florida?

If you play poker for real money at either a recognized tribal casino or in a 'penny ante' game as described above, you are well within the law in Florida.

Otherwise, poker for stakes would appear to be illegal under Florida law. Remember, the statutory definition of gambling includes prohibitions on both games involving cards and games of skill, so there seems to be little room for an exception for poker under current Florida law.

The question of whether or not individuals would run a real risk of prosecution for playing poker is a much different one. We were unable to locate any instances of individuals prosecuted simply for participating in an illegal poker game in the state of Florida.

Does Florida Allow Online Poker Sites or Gambling Online?

Florida law regarding gambling does not specifically address the issue of gambling or playing poker online.

As is the case with just about every state in the US, gambling law in Florida is vague and broad enough to potentially apply to just about any manner of wagering; for example, one could make a case that an individual playing poker online has essentially turned their computer into a gambling device that would be illegal under Florida law.

The ambiguity surrounding online gambling and the law in Florida is aptly illustrated by the controversy surrounding Internet Sweepstakes Cafes operated in the state. To the casual observer, such cafes would seem to clearly be serving as online casinos - but their operators claim to be within the boundaries of Florida law and may have at least a reasonable legal basis for that claim.

Summary: It is unlikely that either an online poker operator or player is within Florida law when it comes to real money games. Casino operators may have more room to work with thanks to Florida sweepstakes laws. The risk of facing prosecution as an individual player is actual in terms of the letter of Florida law, but apparently insignificant in practical terms..

Florida Gambling Law - Fun Facts

It's illegal to engage in gambling or horseracing within one mile of a religious camp.

Actual gambling isn't required for authorities to classify a place as a gambling house - they only need to find 'any of the implements, devices or apparatus commonly used in games of chance' to assume that a place is being used for the purpose of gambling.

Florida Gambling Law in the News

Florida state rep Joseph Abruzzo floated a law to regulate intrastate online poker back in 2010, but the bill failed to get any traction and was tabled in April of 2011.

A bill seeking to ban Internet sweepstakes cafes passed the Florida House in 2012, but seems to be permanently stalled in the Senate.

Will Florida Regulate and Legalize Online Poker Sites?

Regulated online poker sites in Florida faces a number of hurdles. First, any online gambling regulated or otherwise legally endorsed by the state would have to be in compliance with the current gaming compact the state has with the Seminole Tribe. Second, there appears to be little legislative motivation to tackle online poker, as evidenced by the death of Abruzzo's bill in 2011. Finally, the growing backlash against Internet sweepstakes cafes could conceivably result in legislation that would explicitly prohibit all internet-based gambling, effectively raising the legislative bar for an online poker bill.

It's not all negatives; Florida is the 4th largest state by population in the US and is already a popular destination for poker players thanks to a recent reversal of the state's wagering limits for poker. Those two facts suggest that Florida could be one of the few states where an intrastate poker room would actually be viable in terms of player liquidity.

With that said, it seems relatively unlikely that regulated online poker will come to Florida within the next three years, largely due to a lack of political motivation and the state's generally restrictive stance toward gambling.

You’ll find no shortage of live poker rooms in Florida. There are more than 25 of them that offer various poker cash games and tournaments. You can even play World Poker Tour (WPT) tournaments.

So, it’d be nuts for us to suggest that playing poker online is the only option. It’s not. That said, there are many benefits real money online poker offers that live poker does not. And you can enjoy these perks so long as you join one of the best Florida poker sites.

We’re going to talk about the perks of using the top poker sites in our guide below. We’ll also discuss the biggest reasons why you should play poker online in Florida.

After that, we’re going to answer the most common questions we’re asked about playing real money poker in Florida. This includes where you can play live dealer poker, the types of MTTs you can play online, and more.

But before we get to any of that, we’re going to take a minute to talk about the best Florida online poker sites we recommend.

You expect live poker rooms to be safe and spread a fair game. Why would you expect anything different from your online poker site?

You shouldn’t. You should join only the highest-rated poker sites for Florida.

You can try to find a site on your own, but this can take you weeks and hundreds of dollars, if not more. Wouldn’t you rather find a safe site now without spending a dime?

That’s why you should join one of the FL poker sites we endorse.

We’ve researched and tested dozens of online poker sites, weeding out the weak links.

The remaining sites, the best Florida poker sites, are the ones you see on this page.

Those are just words, though. So, let’s dive a little deeper. The next section will show you what we look for and consider in every online gambling site we review, rate, and endorse.

We won’t recommend a real money gambling site until we fully review them. The first area we start with is their company.

Here are the questions we try to answer during this phase.

Do they have a gambling license?

We make sure the site has a current and valid gambling license. And we check to see if they’ve ever had it suspended or revoked and why.

Do they have a good reputation?

It’s important that the room has a reputation for treating players fairly and paying them quickly.

Do they have a variety of US-friendly banking options?

Our favorite option is Bitcoin, but credit and debit cards, money transfers, and bank wires also work.

How do they offer customer support?

We want to see whether they offer live chat, phone, and/or email support. And we test at least one option to see how well their support responds.

This is important. We won’t recommend a poker site (or any type of gambling site) that doesn’t meet our standards during this phase.

Once we’re done here, we move on to their poker room. Here are the questions we ask during this phase.

Do they have any poker promotions?

We look for standard offers like a deposit bonus and cashback, as well as unique promos like leaderboards and huge guaranteed tourneys.

What poker games and variants can you play?

Poker sites that offer more than just Texas Hold’em or just guaranteed tournaments gets extra credit with us.

What stakes can you play for?

We prefer sites that offer microstakes starting at $0.01/$0.02 or $0.02/$.05 per hand and tournament starting at around $1. And we look to see what the highest stakes you can play for is and whether those games see any action.

How much traffic does the poker site get?

We want to know how many people, on average, visit the site to play for real money. The more players, the better.

How is their software?

We test their games to see if they lag or have any bugs. We want to see if the graphics are easy on the eyes. This is important since you’ll be staring at them for hours.

What features do they have?

We look for options like four-color decks, odds calculators, hand histories, and the ability to change how the tables and cards look.

The answers we come up with tell us whether we’ll have a good time playing here or not.

This wraps up our review phase. All the questions and answers we used and found are published to our website so that you can learn the nitty-gritty for all the major real money US poker sites online.

We then take the best of the best and rank them in order, starting with the ones we suggest you join first. The finished product is what you see on this page.

That’s a brief overview of our process. As you can see, we don’t promote just any online poker site for FL. A lot of time, money, and effort goes into our recommendations.

And that’s how you know you can trust our recommendations for the best Florida poker sites.

Five Reasons to Play Poker Online in Florida

Here are five reasons why you should play poker online in Florida.

Online poker rooms offer promotions just like land-based cardrooms. You’ll find guaranteed tournaments, leaderboard competitions, bad beat jackpots, cash races, and more.

But there’s one promotion you can only get online — the deposit bonuses.

A deposit bonus is an offer where the site matches a percentage of your deposit. For example, claim a 100% match bonus and the poker room will give you $1 for every $1 you deposit.

A deposit bonus is as close to free money as you’ll ever get if you’re a breakeven or profitable player.

Another reason to play online is so that you can multi-table. That’s how you play more than one table or tournament at the same time. Many of our recommended FL poker websites let you play 3-4 cash games and 10-15 MTTs at the same time.

Why is this a good thing? It can help prevent boredom. Good players fold more hands than they play. Playing more than one table gives you more playable hands per hour.

Another reason to multi-table is to increase your hourly rate. Even if your win-rate or ROI takes a slight dip, you’ll still earn more money per hour because of the volume of hands you’re playing.

You also get through variance faster. It’s totally normal to lose 20 MTTs in a row. This might take weeks to accomplish playing live. But you can get through this in a matter of days or a couple of weeks online.

Every live poker room in Florida offers Texas Hold’em. Some even offer games like Omaha, Stud, or Pineapple. But that’s it.

The variants are largely the same too. You can play guaranteed MTTs, knockout tourneys, deep stacks, turbo blinds, and that’s about it.

Online poker rooms don’t have to worry about space, so they can offer a larger variety of poker games and variants, even if they’re not popular. This means you’ll find additional games like Five-Card Draw and Razz, as well as variants like heads-up, double or nothings, hyper turbos, and more.

This is huge.

If you have ever played live poker, you know how much it can cost. MTTs are usually $50 to $200, not including rebuys or add-ons. Cash games will set you back $200 to $400 for one buy-in (and you should bring two to three buy-ins with you).

Not everyone can afford this. And if you can’t, and you play anyway, you won’t play your best because you’ll play scared poker. You’ll play not to lose rather than play to win.

This is another reason why we recommend you play online poker in Florida. You can find cash games for less than $0.10 per hand. And you can play MTTs for less than $5.

You can start with a bankroll as little as $5 to $20, which is impossible to do live.

Another reason why we like online poker so much is the software. It makes playing poker so much easier. There’s less work for you to do.

Here’s how software helps.

• It tells you how much each bet is and how much money is in the pot.
• You can use a four-color deck so that it’s easier to spot flushes and draws.
• You can pick a permanent seat at the table.
• Many poker rooms have a “quick seat” feature so you don’t have to scour the lobby for games.
• Poker software allows you to download your hand histories so that you can study them later.
• You can replay past hands, which is helpful if you’re a forgetful person.
• Good poker software allows you to jot down notes and tag other players.

Overall, online poker is great for so many reasons. Especially when you stick with the top FL poker sites that we recommend. It’s convenient, budget-friendly, offers a variety of action, and so much more.

We can’t think of a good reason why you wouldn’t want to play online.

Poker Online Florida Real Money Transfer

No, you can play poker legally in cardrooms and casinos throughout the state.

There’s also no law that prevents you from playing real money poker online in Florida.

There are several cardrooms, casinos, racetracks, and racinos that offer poker in Florida. Here are a few examples.

• Big Easy Casino (Hallandale, FL)
• Casino Fort Pierce (Ft. Pierce, FL)
• Daytona Beach Racing and Card Club (Daytona Beach, FL)
• Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
• TGT Poker at Racebook (Tampa, FL)
• The Casino at Dania Beach (Dania, FL)

There are many more venues, too, and of course you can play online at any of our top-rated FL poker sites.

Yes, both the Hollywood and Tampa Hard Rock locations offer poker.

Poker Online Florida Real Money No Deposit

Between them, you’ll find more than 90 poker tables where they spread Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Seven-Card Stud. They also host WPT regional tournaments.

It depends on the games and stakes you want to play for. It also depends if you’re a recreational player who wants to play on anonymous tables or if you want to play on regular online tables.

Our advice is to sign up at a few of our recommended poker sites for Florida and get a feel for them yourself.

Anonymous tables use numbers or some other method for identifying players instead of screen names.

Sites that use anonymous tables don’t allow you to use heads-up displays like Poker Tracker, and you’re not allowed to take long terms notes either. Poker rooms do this to prevent stronger players from targeting the weaker ones.

Poker Online Florida Real Money Sites

We recommend using Bitcoin for the following reasons.

• Anonymity
• Fast payment processing
• Low minimum and high maximum limits
• No fees
• Nearly every real money US poker site accepts it

If you don’t have or don’t want to invest in Bitcoin (or any cryptocurrency), we recommend you use credit and debit cards.

This depends on the site and the banking option you use.

Most FL poker sites will pay Bitcoin out the same day once they approve the cash-out (which can take a couple days). Bank wires can take five to seven days once approved. Checks can take as long as 15 business days.

Real Money Online Poker in Florida

That wraps up our Florida online poker guide. We answered your most common questions, gave you some excellent reasons why you should play real money poker online, and showed you the best Florida poker sites.

All that’s left for you to do is choose a poker room to join, create your account, and make a deposit. Then, you’ll be ready to play your favorite cash games and MTTs from wherever you are in Florida.