Poker West Virginia

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2020 Update: Can I Play Online Poker in West Virginia?

The tournament base for live poker has been indeed very modest in West Virginia, as confirmed by respected public sources and specialists’ websites, and our own diligent research. With the passage of HB 2934, and the shift towards online gambling, WV’s gambling is completely legal and hopes are that the state will be able to rev up extra.

• West Virginia Poker Casino For instance, you may get a $25 no deposit bonus with a 30x wagering requirement. This means you West Virginia Poker Casino will have to wager a total of $750 – 30 times $25 – to cashout the maximum cap winning amount.
• West Virginia’s live poker action is centred around four massive racetrack casinos, all of which offer enormous poker rooms for players to enjoy the game. Greenbrier is another land-based casino situated in West Virginia, but it’s considered a private vacation resort that only offers two poker tables.

Online poker is legal in West Virginia. After years of trying, bill HB 3067 cleared the West Virginia House, Senate and went to Gov. Jim Justice in March 2019. Gov. Justice didn’t veto the bill and it became law.

The bill also allowed for online slots and casino games, but the state is only awarding five licenses. These licenses are tied to the state’s five land-based casinos. Licenses start at $250,000 with a five-year renewal of $100,000. The West Virginia Lottery Commission will regulate online gaming and it’s still hammering out the rules. There’s still a bit to go for there to be state-run sites though. Local experts expect the state won’t launch official sites until 2021.

Online Poker and Gambling Laws in West Virginia

Online poker gaming is now law in West Virginia. It’s the most recent addition to a book with lots of gambling laws. West Virginia was one of the first states to legalize gaming in the region. There are several forms of legal gambling in West Virginia. We’ll go over those in the next section, but for now let’s see how the Mountain State defines gambling.

State statute 61-10-5 says “betting on games of chance; furnishing money or thing of value therefore; penalty”:

“If any person at any place, public or private, bet or wage money or other thing of value on any game of chance, or shall knowingly furnish any money or other thing of value to any other person to bet or wage on any such game, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined.”

Another statute, 61-10-4, discussed “playing or betting at gaming tables and devices; playing or betting on games at hotels and public places; penalty”:

“If any person bet or play at any such gaming table, bank or device as is mentioned in the first section of this article, or if, at any hotel or tavern, or other public place, or place of public resort, he play at any game except bowls, chess or backgammon, draughts or a licensed game, or bet on the sides of those who play at any game, whether the game be permitted or licensed or not, he shall be guilty.”

Violating these statutes results in a misdemeanor along with potential fines or jail time. A federal judge ruled that poker is a game of skill, but new online poker laws ensure that online poker has a green light in West Virginia.

Can I Play Poker on PokerStars in West Virginia?

While West Virginia recently legalized online poker, you still can’t play PokerStars there. The state still hasn’t officially launched its state-regulated sites. There’s a chance PokerStars will become available in West Virginia soon, but it’s currently only available to players in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

You’re still going to have to wait a bit to play on state-run sites in West Virginia, but luckily there are already a few good alternatives that rival PokerStars in quality, tournaments and outright fun. We’ve reviewed plenty of sites that accept players from all 50 states, including West Virginia. Ignition Poker and Americas Cardroom are two sites that we’ve reviewed that are great PokerStars alternatives. If you want to read more about these sites and more, check out our reviews below:

Legal Gambling in West Virginia

West Virginia offers a state lottery, pari-mutuel wagering, racetracks, commercial casinos and charitable gaming. Let’s look a closer look at some of them:

State Lottery

The West Virginia Lottery started in November 1984 after voters passed a lottery amendment to the state constitution. The first instant scratch tickets were sold on January 9, 1986. In 1988, they became a charter member of theMulti-State Lottery Association’s Lotto America game, now known as the Powerball.

In 1989, lawmakers dedicated lottery profits to education, senior citizens, and tourism programs. Soon after, they included elementary, secondary, and higher education.

The lottery stretched its wings in 1994. That year, West Virginia lawmakers passed legislation allowing slot-machine style video lottery terminals at racetracks. For more information you can find theWest Virginia Lottery Commission’s contact information here.

However, West Virginia’s lottery generated almost $10.4 billion for state residents since it started.

Commercial Casinos

Commercial casinos were legalized in 1994, but they have a long history in West Virginia. Currently, most of the existing casinos have roots that date back to the 1930s or even the 18th century. For example, the Greenbrier was originally built in 1858. However, the current Greenbrier building was finished in 1913.

The number of casinos in West Virginia currently stands at five. They do around $1 billion in annual revenue andThe Casino Club at The Greenbrier is a popular destination. It attracts people from all over the world. The other four casinos are the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, Mardi Gras Casino and Resort, Mountaineer Casino.

Racetracks

Racetracks are what started gaming in West Virginia. Both horse racing and greyhound racing started in the state back in the 1930s. As of today, sports still have a strong presence in the state.

West Virginia has four racetracks across the state. They offer horse and dog racing as well as slots table games and sportsbooks. The tracks also offer simulcast. The tracks are all under the purview of the West Virginia Racing Commission. The four racetracks had about $458 million handle in 2017.

Specific State-by-State Laws

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Live poker action in West Virginia is centered around the 4 big racetrack casinos, which have huge poker rooms and even bigger slots halls. A 5^th casino the Greenbrier, is more of a private vacation resort, with only 2 poker tables. There is no carve-out for social homegames in West Virginia, though charity poker and free entry bar leagues are possible here. Online poker is not regulated in this State, though there is already speculation that this could happen at some future date.

Recommended West Virginia Poker Site

This page gives you all the information you need to know about poker games in West Virginia in each of the main formats. First of all I have covered live poker games, which include some excellent rooms and big action. Next up the social poker scene is covered, this includes charity, home games and free bar leagues. Next you can find out about online poker from WV. At the end of this page I have gotten a little more detailed, with excerpts from the Statute books which pertain to poker – followed by a summary at the end of the page.

West Virginia Poker Rooms

West Virginia Live Poker Games

If you are only going to have 4 major casinos in your State, then it makes sense to make them as attractive as is possible. This applies to West Virginia, where the 4 racetrack casinos offer a huge amount of poker action. The venues are The Hollywood Casino at the Charlestown racetrack, The Mountaineer Casino, Wheeling Island and The Mardi-Gras. The Greenbrier is more of a conference resort and only has 2 poker tables.

With venues holding up to 50 poker tables, these rooms are plenty big enough for the major tours to stop in this State. You will also find a packed regular tournament schedule including many special events. Cash game action is 24/7, with lots of poker game variations and action at some big buy-in levels too.

For those who like to travel, neighboring Ohio and Pennsylvania give the best alternate options for poker card rooms.

Are Home Games Legal in West Virginia?

Home games are not legal in WV. There is no carve-out for these games, meaning that they are covered by the general ‘illegal gambling’ laws. In reality this type of game is tolerated as long as it is genuinely social and nobody profits from the games – there is very rarely any law enforcement activity in this area.

Poker In West Virginia

Charity gambling does not include poker in this State, which means that the only other social poker possible are the free to enter poker leagues held in bars and restaurants. These give away small prizes, and are not considered gambling as there are no entry fees,

West Virginia Online Poker Games

Poker Rooms West Virginia

Yet again the Statutes which pre-date the internet and even home computers are believed to be robust enough to cover online poker games – which are considered to be illegal by the West Virginia government. With their pragmatic attitude towards gambling, WV looks like a strong candidate for regulating online poker games within their State. I expect that they will wait until the pioneering States of Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have proved that this is a sustainable source of revenue before going ahead with enacting any new laws.

In the meantime, offshore poker sites who are US-friendly welcome players from West Virginia. These sites, based in the Caribbean, are legal in their own countries and claim that free trade agreements enable them to accept US players. While the WV government might not agree, there have been no prosecutions of individuals for playing in online poker games at the time of writing.

What Do The West Virginia Gambling Statutes Say?

The West Virginia gambling laws focus on the ‘bet’ as the criminal element, betting on a game of chance is designed to catch all possible types of gambling – and those types which are approved can then be specifically carved out from this. While it could be argued that poker is not a game of chance, the understanding of the law enforcement agencies here is that this game certainly is covered by the existing definitions.

Here is the main definition of online gambling. This comes from chapter 61, part 10-2 of the WV codes:

…bet or wage money or other thing of value on any game of chance, or shall knowingly furnish any money or other thing of value to any other person to bet or wage on any such game…

If this definition is not catch-all enough, there are further clauses which outlaw the use of gambling devices.

Online Poker In West Virginia

West Virginia Poker – Summing It Up

There are some great options for poker fans in West Virginia, with the big poker rooms at the casino racetracks offering a ton of action. You’ll need to be more careful with your poker home-game, as this type of game does not enjoy an exemption from the general anti-gambling laws.

West Virginia Poker Casino

I believe that West Virginia is a solid candidate to join a future wave of regulated online poker locations.