Florida Poker Options Covering Land Based Poker Rooms In FL And Online Legal Poker Options
Florida is a fairly progressive destination when it comes to playing poker. Home to multiple casinos, race tracks and card rooms throughout the state, there are multiple opportunities to engage in legitimate, above board gambling entertainment, including legal Florida online poker options. The Sunshine State went through a short stint with Internet cafes, however it went down hill fairly quickly once it was discovered that these cafes were associated with illegal gambling operations.
Internet Cafes are now outlawed throughout Florida, which brought the state face to face with the issue of online gambling and how they wanted to position themselves. This guide will discuss the legal status of online poker gambling in Florida, which options are legally sanctioned to offer card playing services to Florida residents, and how to find and access the top rated options.
FL Gambling Laws – Is It Legal To Play Online Poker In Florida?
There are a variety of legal Florida poker options available to players. There are more than 40 brick and mortar card rooms and a handful of legitimate offshore poker sites that offer some great legal online poker games for Florida players.
While a few state such as New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware offer state regulated online poker options, Florida hasn’t gotten there quite yet. Though discussions have taken place such as with Senate Bill 7052*, but nothing much has come of them. The state’s bad experience with illegal online gambling through Internet Cafe’s has probably set Florida back a bit in the move to legalize state based online poker.
It is currently illegal to own or operate an online gambling site of any kind within the state of Florida. However this law does not prohibit Florida residents and visitors from engaging in online poker gambling that is licensed, regulated and based outside of the United States. There is also no federal law that legally prohibits this either.
The key here is in making sure you do not visit any type of Internet poker room that does not hold the credentials necessary for operating legally within the industry. If you’d like to learn more about the existing gambling laws and statutes in the Sunshine State, then you can visit the Florida State Legislature website** or this resource. (You will find * and ** source links at the bottom of the page.)
Best Online Poker Site Accepting Florida Players For 2024
Bovada Poker Room $500 Match Deposit Bonus
Bovada is the #1 online poker destination for US players. They are actually a household name in the online betting industry and are known for having extremely fast payouts, excellent deposit options and good action at the poker tables. One reason that players absolutely love playing at Bovada is the fact that they can enjoy all types of betting under their player account.
Bovada is actually a full service gambling site that offers all types of wagering such as online sports betting, a full online casino, poker room and much more.
Does Bovada Poker room accept Florida Players? Yes, they allow players from every state with the exception of Nevada, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
Most Trusted Online Poker Sites Open To Florida Players In 2024
| Poker Site | Bonus Offer | Rating | USA | Play Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bovada Poker | 100% Max $500 | 4.9 | Yes | Play Now |
| Ignition Poker | 100% Max $2,000 | 4.8 | Yes | Play Now |
| Betonline Poker | 100% Max $1,000 | 4.4 | Yes | Play Now |
What Is The Minimum Legal Gambling Age In Florida?
Florida law requires that all participants of lottery games, pari-mutuel wagering, bingo and poker be a minimum of 18 years of age. Participants interested in playing electronic casino games must be a minimum of 21 years of age. These established gambling ages translate into the online gambling arena as well.
This means that players who are 18 years of age or older can engage in licensed online poker at virtual card rooms that are located outside of the US.
Where some players get confused is with the casino gambling. Many licensed online casinos accept players as young as 18, however, if your state, such as Florida, has applied a minimum casino gambling age of 21, then in order to comply with the law, you must wait until you are 21 to engage, despite the online gambling site’s willingness to welcome younger players.
Though it is true you would probably not get caught if you were to participate at 18, is it really worth the risk? Most states take underage gambling pretty seriously and could use anyone that is caught to make an example of.
What Types Of Online Poker Can FL Residents Legally Participate In As Of 2024?
The poker sites that are recommended in this guide offer a variety of Florida legal poker games and platforms. You will find multiple variations of games such as Texas Hold’em, Omaha, 5 card and 7 card Stud, HORSE, RAZZ, Caribbean Poker, and others.
You will also find various pot limits and buy in levels to accommodate the preferences and budgets of just about any player. The brands we recommend offer cash games and tournament games around the clock, including guaranteed tournaments and sit n’ go tournaments.
Buy-ins range from micro to high roller levels, and there are freerolls as well. The player base sizes at the sites listed in this guide are decent in all cases, ensuring plenty of fish in the water, with various levels of competitiveness.
Most top rated poker sites also offer a mobile application that allows you to play online poker from your smartphone or tablet. This technology is somewhat new, hence the game selection may be smaller in some cases, but the experience is just robust.
Our Review Process for Vetting Legal Florida Poker Sites
As mentioned above, as long as an online poker site is legally licensed, regulated and is located outside of the United States, you are not breaking any state or Federal laws by participating in poker gaming at these types of destinations. However, this does not mean you should not apply reasonable due diligence in selecting the poker room you will play at.
Not everything that is legal is a good idea, and this holds true in online gambling. Just because a poker site is licensed to provide services to players around the world does not mean they should be blindly trusted.
We have a stringent set of criteria by which we evaluate the legally sanctioned poker rooms that accept Florida players. We strongly recommend that you rely on the input of trusted resources and industry professionals for selecting a legitimate, secure and high quality poker destination. This guide is an example of the type of resources we recommend.
Our review process is thorough and intense, and effectively exposes undesirable and questionable online poker destinations while also revealing the top rated options. We start with verifying that the site holds the appropriate credentials to ensure that they are licensed, regulated and compliance certified. If they are operating legitimately within the industry, we then move on to evaluate their security profile, game selection and performance, customer support staff, banking suite, bonus offers and all other elements of their operation.
Each category must meet certain standards in order to be included here, and our standards do exceed minimum licensing requirements.
Poker Bonuses Offered to Florida Players
Our recommended online poker sites all offer a generous sign up bonus to new players, as well as various reload bonuses, tournament promotions, free entrance into tournament games and special events. Since these types of gambling destinations cannot offer you comps on your hotel room or food, they incentivize players through bonus money and free games.
We anticipate that when Florida does legalize online poker, and we are confident that they will at some point, they will offer similar bonuses and promotions as their competitors do across the pond.
Florida’s Top Rated Brick And Mortar Poker Rooms
- Best Bet Jacksonville
- Poker Room At Seminole Hard Rock Tampa