Online Gambling In Alabama
- Is Gambling Legal In Alabama
- Online Gambling In Alabama Counties
- Alabama Gambling Law
- Online Gambling In Alabama Secretary Of State
- Online Gambling In Alabama
If you know anything about the Southern United States you know that conservatism abounds. Understanding this, it makes sense when you find out that the state of Alabama has made all forms of gambling illegal. Apart from the existence of a few Native American-operated establishments, Alabama residents are left only with online casinos accepting players from the state.
In Alabama residents that are 18 and older are able to play bingo games and wager at horse tracks. With that being said, in order to gamble at the in-state Native American casinos one must be 21. Though there are no specific laws stating this, it is customary that you must be 21 in order to gamble at online casinos in Alabama as well.
In 2019, regulated online gambling in Alabama leap-frogged over land-based betting when daily fantasy sports were approved. Providers have to be registered with the Office of the Attorney General. As mentioned above, online gambling is illegal in the state of Alabama and there are no plans to change this in the near future.
What Are The Best Alabama Real Money Gambling Sites?
Yes, online gambling in Alabama can be safe as long as you are just a consumer/user of the sites. The answer to this question is a resounding 'NO' if you plan on starting your own gambling site or already. Online Casinos in Alabama There are no online casinos in Alabama, and there are no indications that it will be legalized soon. Alabama does not even have a state lottery, which often indicates an openness. Other Online Gambling in Alabama Current Alabama gambling laws are strict and prohibit most forms of gambling. The odds of online gambling coming to Alabama do not appear great over the short term, but lawmakers have studied the issue and may consider action in the future. There are several laws in the Code of Alabama that pertain to gambling.
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Is Online Gambling Legal in Alabama?
Throughout recent history, Alabama has not exactly been on the leading edge of states that are looking to establish intrastate online casino frameworks.
In fact, of all the states Alabama has consistently kept quiet when it comes to online casinos.
The reasoning behind this has much more to do with Alabama’s conservative roots than anything else. Even though they have been relatively quiet as a state when it comes to legalized online gaming, there has not been a loud voice of opposition.
This means, to some, that perhaps the Alabama state government is leaving the door open for legalization sometime in the future.
Is Gambling Legal In Alabama
Fortunately for those who are living in the state, playing real money casino games online is something that can be done quite easily. Whether on a computer, laptop, or mobile device, there exists a plethora of real money gaming options for people from Alabama. There are many online casinos catering to Alabama residents, and those who wish to play do not have to fear facing any legal ramifications for doing so.
Like so many other states in the United States Alabama has no laws written that make it illegal for residents to gamble with real money online. We have searched the laws of the state and there is not anything in writing that states that it is illegal to play games like baccarat and roulette. Though there is a feeling that this may change in the future, online casinos are still offering their services to Alabama residents.
The great thing about most of these casinos is that they are home to some of the newest software, innovative site designs, and of course the most up to date games.
Legal Status of Brick and Mortar Casinos — Alabama
Now that you are well-versed on Alabama’s status as a conservative state it should come as no surprise that brick and mortar casinos are mostly non-existent. The closest entities resembling casinos are the greyhound tracks and off track betting sites located around the tracks. Bingo is also an accepted form of gambling in Alabama. Bingo, however, is a far cry from the type of real money gaming that most people are seeking. You will very rarely find die-hard casino-goers who look to play bingo for real money.
Though the brick and mortar casino history of Alabama is fairly lackluster, the greyhound betting sites did stir up some controversy in the early 1990s. This is when they discovered a grey area in state law that allowed for the operation of gambling machines that basically equated to video poker and slot games.
After operating for some time these machines were also outlawed due to action taken to tie up what some people saw as loopholes in the way the law was written. This story serves to highlight just how ridiculous the laws of Alabama can be at times. For seemingly no reason whatsoever, the only gambling that the state had was taken away overnight.
Nowadays, the three brick and mortar casinos located throughout the state are all owned and operated by Native American tribes. Unlike Native American casinos in other states, those that exist in Alabama are only able to offer slot and video games. Tables games are still outlawed.
This means that if you are looking to play live blackjack or poker you are going to have to do so in another state. Further adding to your difficulties is the fact that many of Alabama’s neighboring states are just as restrictive when it comes to live casino play. In fact, throughout most of the Southern part of the United States you will find that brick and mortar casinos are found few and far between.
Alabama Online Casinos FAQ
- Abbreviation: AL
- State Motto: We dare to defend our rights.
- Capital City: Montgomery
- Population Estimate: 4.8 million (24th)
- Website: https://www.alabama.gov/
What is the legal age to play at online casinos in Alabama?
Though you are able to place wagers on bingo and dog races in Alabama at 18 years of age, you will find that most online casinos do not allow those who are under the age of 21 to play. This is something that you will find is a reality in most states across the US.
How do I deposit at Alabama online casinos?
When it comes to depositing at online casinos in Alabama this can most often be done via a direct bank transfer or by way of debit/credit card. When you deposit with a debit or credit card, the process is simple, straightforward and takes only a few seconds. This means that your funds will become playable almost instantaneously.
How do I cash out my winnings?
The exact avenue by which you receive cash outs depends on the online casino you choose to use. Nowadays, however, most reputable online casinos offer a few different ways by which you can receive your winnings. Most popular of all are either a check delivered by courier or a direct bank transfer. Because of US banking laws, most credit and debit cards cannot process cash-outs like they are able to process deposits.
Are Alabama Online Casinos safe to deal with?
So long as you do your research you should have no safety issues when it comes to dealing with and playing at Alabama online casinos. If it is your financial information that you are concerned with protecting, you will be happy to hear that most every reputable online casino employs some of the best financial security measures that exist at the present moment in time. Furthermore, any reputable online casino will have a customer service department capable of rectifying any and all issues that you may encounter.
From a legal point of view, you should never be worried about the police knocking down your door and arresting you for playing real money casino games online in Alabama. The fact of the matter is that online casinos are not and have never been illegal in Alabama. Though there are some people who feel as though this may change sometime in the future, right now you are able to gamble at online casinos in Alabama.
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Despite its noticeable lack of a statewide lottery and few commercial casinos, Alabama or the Yellowhammer State as it’s also known, has a booming real money poker and gambling industry. Plus, in May 2015 Alabama government got a lot friendlier with the idea of regulated gambling; a new bill to bring casino games to the state’s racetracks and launch a state lottery was passed by a committee.
The loosening up of Alabama gambling law also takes the state a step closer to regulating online poker. With Alabama government looking to fill a hole in their budget, they’re seriously weighing up the potential online poker and general gambling revenues that they’re currently missing out on.
Back in 2011, the gambling industry in Alabama generated 25 percent more tax revenue than the year before – the largest percentage legal betting revenue gain in the United States. Alabama is still one of the top five states for gambling revenues.
The state’s sudden explosion onto the gambling scene can be directly attributed to the aggression of the state’s only tribal faction, the Poarch Creek tribe. But is the tribe’s increased presence in Alabama’s real cash gambling scene enough to encourage state legislators to abandon their anti-gambling stance and consider an online gambling bill? Well, maybe.
The prospect of regulated iGaming and online poker coming to Alabama this year is a longshot, but once the foundations of a regulated, commercial gambling industry are there, legal online poker becomes a whole heap more likely.
If you’re from The Yellowhammer state and you’re feeling sure of your skill, you might like to try some of our top-rated real money poker sites for 2021.
The Poarch Creek Tribe VS Regulated Commercial Gambling
Quick Jump
- 4 The Facts
In 2009, they opened the Wind Creek Casino and Hotel, a destination resort featuring over 1,600 electronic real money gaming machines, and a 160,000 square foot hotel. Then in 2014 they opened a brand new hotel and casino with over 250 rooms and a giant shark tank in the lobby.
Now, in 2021 the Poarch Creek tribe are freaking out about the idea of legalized commercial gambling in the state and a potentially regulated online poker industry. That’s because they’d like to protect their profits and don’t want to lose their complete dominance of the gambling market in Alabama.
In a desperate (and pretty clever) attempt to stop the Alabama government turning to regulated commercial gambling to fill the gap in the state budget, the tribe has put a deal forward. They’re saying, let’s create a pact together between the tribe and the government, which declares that the tribe are the only people allowed to offer regulated gambling in Alabama.
These kinds of deals aren’t unusual but what’s different about this one is that the tribe are offering to pay the government one massive lump sum of over $250 million to cover the next five years, rather than $50 million each year. Because Alabama’s running out of money, this deal obviously seems appealing to state senators.
Can Players from Alabama Play Online Poker?
Yes, you sure can.
Alabama state officials tolerate the presence of tribal casinos not by choice, but by federal mandate. In reality, Alabama is a highly traditional state, historically opposed to gambling in most forms, including real cash poker.
Yet, despite its conservative stance, Alabama does not prevent its residents from playing for real money at online poker websites in 2021. Actually, almost all the US Internet poker sites on our homepage are more than willing to accept real poker players from the Yellowhammer State.
Just create an account with one of our many recommended poker websites, and you too can be gambling real money on the Internet from the comfort of your own home in The Heart of Dixie, Alabama.
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Is Online Poker Legal in Alabama?
The truth is Alabama’s gambling laws are old and out-dated, as well as being massively vague. Right now in 2021 the laws just aren’t specific or modern enough to completely and clearly define Internet poker as illegal.
Plus, never in the history of AL State has someone faced a criminal charge for merely playing online at poker websites.
Instead, it seems Alabama state officials are more concerned with those operating an illegal gambling ring, and not those gambling real money on Internet poker tables in 2021.
Still, Alabama residents are best advised to seek legal advice before creating an account at US-facing online poker websites, if only to gain a better understanding of AL state’s gambling rules and regulations. For now, the following summary of the law should provide you with some insight into real money Texas Hold’em and other legit Internet poker games for 2021:
Real cash gambling, as well as other terms related to gambling, are clearly defined by Alabama state law. By definition, a person engages in gambling if he/she stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his/her control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that he/she or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.
Note that the definition only applies to games of chance. Thus, real money poker players in The Heart of Dixie could conceivably make an argument that they are not engaging in gambling activity by playing online poker in 2015, by definition of the law.
However, way back in 2007 Alabama Justice James Gregory Shaw stated that an offline and Internet poker player’s understanding of the rules or the laws of probability relating to a game of chance does not change the fact that he is playing a game of chance. [3] His statement implies that Texas Hold’em poker would in fact be considered a game of chance and thus would fall under the Alabama state’s blanket definition of gambling.
A person commits the crime of simple gambling if he knowingly advances or profits from unlawful gambling activity as a player. The violation for simple gambling is a Class C misdemeanor. Section 13A-12-21
Promoting gambling, in other words profiting from poker gambling or other betting activities as a non-player, is subject to harsher penalties (Class A misdemeanor).
Because Alabama’s gambling laws are so vague, Section 13A-12-17 Possession of a gambling device, could be read to include a computer used for online gambling.
For more details regarding Alabama’s gambling statues [4] and the state’s 2021 legislative information in general, please refer to our “References” section.
The Facts
The History of Gambling in Alabama
Compared to states where the gambling industry has thrived for decades, New Jersey and Nevada included, Alabama’s legal gambling history seems rather uneventful.
In the days following the American Civil War, the state legalized lotteries. However, due to competition from neighboring states, the lotteries failed to generate much in the way of sustainable real money revenue and were banned. And by 1901, all games of chance, including poker betting, were deemed illegal by the AL state Constitution.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Phoenix City went bankrupt, prompting city officials to grant lawful gambling licenses. Unfortunately, organized crime leaders caught wind of this, and began setting up shop. Crime rates rose dramatically, leading to the eventual assassination of an Alabama conservative Attorney General in 1954.
For the next several decades, law authorities cracked down on poker gambling and other betting games and public sentiment towards gambling remained negative until the 1970s. It was then that AL state legalized pari-mutuel betting. Legit real money dog races have remained a somewhat popular mainstay of Alabama culture ever since.
In 1980 charitable bingo gambling was legalized. Eight years later, the federal government passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, which allowed Indian tribes to be recognized as sovereign nations, and thus exempt from certain state laws. The Poarch Tribe quickly took advantage of this clause by establishing electronic gaming halls in their territories. However, the tribe is not permitted to spread casino style table games in its facilities, including real cash poker.
Regulated Gambling Options in Alabama
Besides the state’s three tribal destination resorts, residents of the state of Alabama can participate in charitable bingo and pari-mutuel wagering but not land based legal real money poker.
Currently in 2021, the state boasts three major dog tracks with legal, regulated pari-mutuel betting (Birmingham Greyhound Racing, Greentrack and Mobile Greyhound Park).
Right now Alabama is one of only seven states in the USA that doesn’t have a state-wide lottery and commercial casinos that include Texas Hold’em poker tables. The good news for poker fans is that thanks to the 2015 gambling bill due to go in front of the full state senate, by this time next year live poker and regulated gaming could be a reality in AL.
Poker players in Alabama can play at many different online poker sites enjoying all of the action they want at any time.
The Future of Regulated Online Gambling in Alabama
Despite its accelerated growth, Alabama’s lawful poker and gambling industry is still quite small even in 2021. And although there is support for legal online poker and regulated gambling, most of Alabama’s state officials would like things to remain the way they’ve always been.
That’s why the general consensus among regulated iGaming advocates is that Alabama’s state legislators are unlikely to pass a bill legalizing Internet gambling and poker websites in 2021 but they are closer to it than they’ve ever been before.
If the Poarch Creek tribe pushes for an online bill, Alabama lawmakers will have to listen but the majority of them are likely to reject any proposals for real money Internet poker sites and real cash casinos.
Online Gambling In Alabama Counties
In the past, experts have also said that the state might even opt out of a federal bill legalizing online gambling, should it be passed. Now in 2021, the senate’s due to look at regulating live gambling and if they approve that it’ll be clear that the government’s softened their position on gambling.
Fun Fact
In 2013, poker playing Professor Corey Harrison of Bessemer, Alabama won the WSOP Event #24 poker tournament ($1,500 No Limit Texas Hold’em). His reward for outlasting a gigantic field of over 1,700 runners would be $432,411 [5] in cold-hard real cash.
Harrison has a Ph.D. in cellular molecular biology and is a staunch believer that poker gambling is a game of mathematics and skill.
The Bottom Line
Alabama used to be amongst one of the 10 states in the US that were least likely to pass iGaming legislation, making online real cash poker betting legal. That could all change later in 2021 though, because the state is running out of money and gambling revenues would really help. Plus, when the senate gets the opportunity to vote on a bill regulating live gambling, we’ll all get to see what Alabama’s 2015 position on real cash gambling is.
The perfect combination of circumstances that could lead to the launch of regulated Alabama Internet poker rooms would be; the voters electing liberals, the iGaming market defying expectations and neighboring states such as Mississippi and Georgia passing Internet gambling legislation relating to legit real cash poker websites of their own.
Personally, we don’t think that’s going to happen super soon but with the financial pressures rising in AL, legal online poker and regulated commercial casinos could solve a lot of the governments problems. That’s why we’re saying “Never say never” when it comes to legalized Alabama online poker.
References
[1] ↑Poarch Creeks to open new Wetumpka casino today
[2] ↑Victoryland casino shut down by raid from Ala. AG’s office
[3] ↑Alabama Court Of Appeals
Alabama Gambling Law
[4] ↑Alabama Legislative Information System Online
Online Gambling In Alabama Secretary Of State
[5] ↑Poker playing professor from Bessemer now going for multimillion-dollar payday
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Online Gambling In Alabama
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