Professional poker players are often a nomadic lot, going where the best games and tournaments are. While the advent of the internet has made playing from absolutely anywhere possible, many players still love the thrill of the live game. The internet has also allowed live poker tournaments to be advertized and organized like never before, and poker events now bring a greater draw than ever before. For poker players who leave their home country to travel to games (or for work, or recreation, or any other reason), one question arises: what are the rules and regulations for playing poker outside my home country– do I follow my country’s rules, or the rules of the country from which I’m playing?
The answer is simple– sort of. You have to follow both sets of laws. Since the majority of restrictions on internet poker to make the news are coming from the United States, let’s look at two possible predicaments.
One: you’re an American traveling or living abroad, and you’re recently been doing some research about internet gambling, and you came across a Lock Poker review, which tells you that Lock Poker is the best about transferring money to and from accounts and is the most user-friendly for American players. You would like to play poker online, and you’re sitting at your computer with your Lock Poker bonus code in your hands… but your bank accounts are all still American. This means that you’re subject to the same restrictions on banking and internet gambling that apply to all American banks (thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 and the recent “we’re not afraid to enforce the UIGEA” strong-arming tactics of United States v. Scheinberg et al.) as well as any restrictions that apply in the country from which you play. The country you’re in will determine what sites you can access, while the UIGEA throws a monkey wrench in your plans to put money in your online account. Then there’s the whole issue of taxes, as both countries are going to want a piece of the action where your potential wins are concerned (but only one is entitled to them– usually).
The best solution? Try to find a way to keep your money from hitting your bank account at all. If you regularly gain income through the internet (sales, gifts, income), keep the money in an intermediary account (such as MoneyBookers) so that you’re not technically transferring funds from a US bank. You could also get an account overseas, although this will further complicate your tax issues.
Two: you’re not an American, but you want to travel to (or live in) the US for a while and play internet poker while you’re there. Your chief concern is not going to be banking issues, but rather finding that the sites with which you want to play are blocked and you are unable to play (while you can still use your Lock Poker bonus code on their site, others, like Full Tilt, Party Poker, and PokerStars are inaccessible from the US).
The best solution? Proxy server. There are several ways around this problem, but they all come down to tricking the site into thinking that you’re playing from somewhere else. Google “how to use a proxy server” for directions.