Poker Rooms In Alabama

Live poker rooms run one or two tournaments every day. But each online poker room runs more than a dozen daily poker tournaments. Join more than one of our recommended Alabama poker sites and you’ll have dozens of MTTs to play. Play Less Popular Poker Games. Mobile, Alabama: Casino hotels and other gaming details regarding the latest gaming news, poker tourneys, slots information, pari-mutuel (greyhounds & horses), and more topics. Vital information and pictures of many gambling facilities in Mobile. Also, as you will read, although Alabama has taken a look at online poker, it's still considered to be within the laws and many residents play regularly at such rooms as Americas Cardroom. Playing Poker at Home in Alabama. US online poker laws seem to be changing monthly since government attorneys announced that the Wire Act cannot be used to prohibit states from allowing online poker. Online poker rooms and online gambling sites are clamoring for state licenses, and the US online gambling landscape is going through a major change. Playing Poker In Alabama Alabama does not have any live poker rooms, so players are limited to playing in social games and on the internet. Players may also travel to neighboring states to access live poker, in Mississippi and Florida, and there are several located close to the state borders (4).

1. Poker Rooms In Alabama
2. List Of Florida Poker Rooms

Alabama shares a lot of gambling history with its Southern Neighbors Mississippi and Louisiana. Unfortunately for poker fans, this State did not modernize their laws to allow gambling – and are rather conservative in terms of what is allowed. The religious nature of Alabama is highlighted by the fact that penalties for gambling are much harsher on Sundays!

Recommended Alabama Poker Site

This article gives you an overview of playing poker games in the State of Alabama. First of all, you will find information on live poker card rooms – which are located across State borders here. Next home and social poker games are covered. After that you’ll find information on internet poker games in AL. Towards the end of this page there is information right from the Alabama law books, including an overview of what these laws mean for poker fans. Finally you’ll find a summary and speculation as to whether things are likely to progress in the near future.

Live Poker Games In Alabama

There is not a single casino which offers a live poker card room in Alabama, either State licensed or run by native tribes. The few casinos there are operate on tribal lands, these offer what is known as ‘class 2’ games – which encompass certain types of slots and bingo type games. There are no table games at all, and that includes poker.

Poker Rooms In Alabama

Fortunately, Mississippi is only a short journey away and offers a great range of casinos, many of which have excellent poker card rooms. In other States this kind of cross-border revenue drain has kicked off discussions on legalizing casinos. Unfortunately this does not seem to have been the case for Alabama.

Are Home Games Legal In Alabama?

Home games, free to enter bar leagues and charity events are the only forms of poker which are legal under the Alabama Statutes.

List Of Florida Poker Rooms

If you want to run a home-game, then the usual stipulation – that nobody can profit from running the game – applies. This includes charging an entry fee to the premises as well as tournament entry fees or rake from the pots. There is a second stipulation in this State – the game must be between friends. The legal definition of friends is a tricky one, and down to the judges rather than explicitly defined under the gambling laws.

Bar poker leagues are popular, there are real prizes and the games have no entry fees. Certain bars like Oscars Bar and Grill in Enterprise, AL, are running bar tournaments 5 nights a week. Many other bars have weekly events or more occasional games. There are also charity poker tournaments running in Alabama – these need to be individually licensed by the State before they can take place.

Online Poker Games In Alabama

There is nothing on the Alabama Statutes which directly mentions internet gambling. Like in most States the assumption of the enforcement agencies and government here is that the current Statutes already cover this area.

Many Alabamans enjoy the offshore online poker sites who continue to welcome US players. These sites are operated from countries where online poker is legal, mostly Caribbean islands.

Unsurprisingly, there is no movement towards regulated online poker games in this State. I can’t see any future scenario where this would happen given the complete lack of casino table games and other gambling options here.

What Do The Alabama Statutes Say About Gambling?

The current definition of gambling from the AL Statutes comes from 1901, during a period where religious elements were in the process of banning just about everything – including alcohol a few years later. Not much has really changed since then, with some small carve-outs for pari-mutuel horse racing, charity and social games the only allowed format. Alabama is one of the few States with no lottery.

While the laws seem to suggest you could argue the ‘Skill Game’ line for poker, this has already been tested in court. The answer is very clear, poker is considered gambling under Alabaman law. Here is the key passage from the AL Statutes, this is the definition of gambling from Chapter 13A, Section 12-20:

…risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence…

Alabama Poker – Summing It Up

While there is not complete prohibition here, Alabama ranks very close to Utah when it comes to the minimal options for gambling available. Only the limited slots games at tribal casino save it from complete ‘dry State’ status.

Fortunately, there are some great options for poker just over the border in Mississippi, and bar leagues to keep your skills up to date between trips to those venues. While the lure of extra revenues for State coffers might trigger other States to eventually regulate online poker games – this seems unlikely in Alabama. In the meantime, there is always the option of offshore poker sites. While these are considered covered by the existing Statutes, there is little enforcement for individuals enjoying a game of poker online.

While most people think of the state of Alabama as a football culture, with the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers being two of the most popular teams in the nation, there's actually a pretty large gambling culture throughout the state that has saw many different live poker rooms come into operation over the past decade or so. The American South, made up of mostly right-wing individuals, in the middle of the Bible Belt; when you look at Alabama based on those stats, it's hard to believe that any form of gambling would be tolerated. But what those things do not tell you is that there's a demand for poker in Alabama that's as strong as any gambling demand in any state. Therefore, there's a supply there to meet it.

At www.alabamaonlinepoker.net/, our goal is to cover all things poker in the state of Alabama. Not only will we be brushing up against the state's live poker offerings and talking about those rooms, but we'll also be dealing with the legality of online gambling in the state and letting you know your online poker options if you live in Alabama and want to play poker via the Internet. We'll also touch on Alabama's gambling culture, which seems to live in stark contradiction to the other cultural elements of the southern state. We plan to act as a resource guide in this regard, giving you up to date information on any changes in the gambling laws, and helping you find the right poker room with which to play, whether that's a live room or an online room.

Top Rated Online Poker Sites Open To Alabama Players In 2020

Is Poker Legal In Alabama?

Let's first speak about live gambling in the state, which is separate from its online gambling laws. First and foremost, we found that gambling is pretty much considered to be illegal in Alabama, save tribal gambling (Native American casinos). While this seems on its face like it would limit the field, you have to understand that Alabama isn't shy in the least about handing out licenses to Native tribes who want to open up gambling establishments. And these spots aren't always full-on casinos; oftentimes they're simply card rooms or bars and clubs that have gambling options inside. This allows Alabama to maintain its ban on commercial gambling while still making an exception for tribal gaming and reaping the tax benefits. It might seem a touch hypocritical, but it's smart for a state looking for additional funding while simultaneously maintaining the facade that they're tough on gambling.

Online gambling in the state is a different story entirely. While the state of Alabama doesn't have any of its own laws against online gambling per se, it does hold fast to the federal government's anti-gambling legislation, of which there are three major bills. The first federal restriction that helps keep gambling out of Alabama is the Federal Wire Act (1). Strengthening this act and scaring Alabama into complying are the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Acts (PASPA and UIGEA respectively). Although the Department of Justice actually redefined the FWA and UIGEA in 2011, making it legal for states to decide their own gambling fate, states like Alabama still don't want to cross over into legalized online gambling because they see the fuss that Congress is making in trying to re-release anti-gambling laws onto the masses. So, in short, you won't find online gambling sanctioned by Alabama. However, you also won't find any laws, state or federal, against playing at an offshore site that accepts you. So as long as you're playing via an offshore poker room, you can do so legally in Alabama.

Alabama's Land Poker Rooms

Now that we have touched on the state of legal gambling in Alabama and have explained that Native gambling establishments are actually allowed in the state, let's give you some of your live gambling options to try out if ever you're in Alabama and get a hankering for real poker. Most of these rooms aren't exactly the Horseshoe hosting the WSOP Main Event. Most of these rooms are just basic open rooms with tables, typically located in or around other activities like bars or slots, etc. However, poker players are typically great at blocking out distractions and compartmentalizing. So these places still end up making great poker rooms.

Listed below are a few of the most popular poker rooms available in the state of Alabama:

As stated, these rooms aren't big and fancy, and they're not exactly drawing in tourists from across the nation, but for residents of Alabama, these rooms serve the purpose well and provide some great poker action to a culture that really seems to be starved for it.

Beyond the Crimson Tide: Alabama's Poker Culture

The rooms we listed above are the rooms that are typically advertised more and can be found in some of the state's most popular Native casinos. However, these rooms don't' tell you everything about the poker culture that exists in Alabama. While it is true that from September through January most of the state is shouting either 'Roll Tide' or 'War Eagle' due to Auburn or Alabama's chances in the SEC West, gambling pretty much grips the state's culture as the second-most popular pastime. With casino poker, you're basically walking into a casino, looking out on the floor's tables, and seeing who's playing. In Alabama there are always packed crowds here, but there's no real structure, save an occasional tournament. This isn't the case with other Alabama poker rooms. Poker is such a part of the culture that there are quite a few bar, pubs and clubs offering weekly poker nights, which feature leagues, tournaments, ranking systems, etc.

Here are just a few of the leading locations in Alabama where you can find these weekly poker clubs and events:

• Peppers, Indianapolis
• Papa Lou's, Petoskey
• Aviator's Landing, Fort Rucker
• Drifters, Dothan
• The Glad Crab, Dallastown
• Fox & Hound Club and Grill, Birmingham

If you're in Alabama looking for live poker, keep your eyes peeled. The clubs mentioned above are only a few of the total number of offerings you can find when looking for a game of poker to play in the state.

The Future for Alabama's Online Gambling Scene

Given that live poker is not only tolerated in Alabama but celebrated, what are the odds that online poker will eventually be embraced by the state? Unfortunately, we cannot find any legislation in the works for legal online gambling, nor can we find any Alabama politicians beating that drum to create some ripples that may one day become legitimate waves. What we did find, while minuscule in the grand scheme, is pretty motivating for Alabama's odds going forward. Around a year ago, a guy was busted in Alabama for operating an illegal wagering site. Though rather than throwing the book at him, which is so typical in Alabama that it's been a meme for over two centuries, the prosecution actually made a sweetheart deal with the man (2) and allowed him to plea down to a lesser charge and face incredibly light punishment. Sure, most are probably thinking that this isn't anything to do with the gambling climate changing in Alabama, but we see some hope here, a silver lining.

Alabama was basically just the party to meet out the justice that the federal government (DOJ) decided to throw down. The DOJ charged, but Alabama had the jurisdiction. So what you'll find is the case 99.9% of the time, throughout the entire nation, is that the state is doubly hard to appease the federals. However, Alabama barely slapping the wrist is something that signals to us that Alabama is sick of living under the DOJ's heel. And if they're getting fed up with the feds, it may only be a matter of time before Alabama finds it more beneficial to allow online gambling than to carry the federal government's water. We don't think this is wishful thinking; though while a stretch, it seems a logical path.

Until that point comes in Alabama, if it comes, whereby an individual can play online poker at a site sanctioned by the state, you're still free as a bird to play at any offshore site that accepts you. So, in reality, it shouldn't matter to you one way or the other, whether Alabama allows legal online poker or not. No matter their decision, you can still play. And if you stay tuned to our network, (site name) will give you some great poker rooms you can sign up with and other gambling information to help you win big.