New York City's Underground Poker Scene: Myths and Realities

New York has a long history with poker, and it wasn't long ago the New York underground poker scene was thriving, with women and men playing games all over the city. Underground poker isn't as glamorous as you may have perceived it to be though. Unlike legal casinos where men and women dress up in their finest attire to act out some James Bond like fantasy, the New York poker underground scene took place in an undistinguished building. Most were dressed casually as they made their way into the mini-casino. There were cameras and security guards, which is necessary when it comes to protecting high rollers and the casino in general. New York has been associated with poker all the way back to the 19th century. Even back then they had poker clubs, and these clubs continued to the 20th and 21st centuries. New York's history with legal poker is extensive, as there are several popular poker rooms for the state's tribal and commercial casinos nowadays.

There were multiple underground poker clubs. There was a poker club downtown, known for being one of the oldest poker clubs in the city. There was one in Midtown East, along with dozens of others in locations like Brooklyn and Queens. There was essentially a loophole in New York law, where it's illegal to facilitate gambling, but it's not illegal to actually gamble. There were raids sometimes, but in general many could play underground without any interference from legal authorities. Sometimes underground poker facilities were even robbed. There was still a risk in playing underground poker. After a while, police began raiding and closing the underground clubs, and underground poker as it was known ceased to exist. After the clubs closed, many New Yorkers turned to online poker. Many New Yorkers began participating in online tournaments and taking any opportunity they could get to play online. That's of course until 2006 when the Unlaw Internet Gambling Enforcement Act restricted online play. Of course, it's been a long time since 2006, so naturally things have changed a bit.

Currently, poker is still not technically legal in New York. Many lawmakers are putting forth their best efforts to change that shortly, though. Poker is currently included on a list of prohibited games of chance, but the state's law does allow for a few exceptions like regulated commercial casinos. If you play at a Native American owned casino, you can also play live poker. in 2020, the state senate introduced a bill to remove poker from the prohibited games list, however the bill failed to adventure beyond the committees, Since 2013 there have been attempts to legalize online poker. However, there are options for players in New York who want to play poker aside from New York's underground clubs. There are sweepstakes poker sites, such as Global Poker, which is immensely popular statewide, accepting players from all over the place except in Washington. Sweepstake sites are legal because they use virtual currencies instead of real money, as most sites use Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins. There are also offshore poker sites. These sites are located outside of the US, and many of these sites accept US p[layers. New Yorkers don't need to worry about any legalities while playing on offshore online casinos, but they are riskier in some senses.

While poker is still illegal in New York, it's guaranteed there will be poker alternatives and ways to get around the laws. Whether we're talking underground poker clubs, which will last as long as New York prohibits legal poker. If you're willing to tip-toe around the laws a bit, you can play poker without breaking any rules!