Hawaii Online Poker

But when it comes to gambling and online poker in particular, are the residents of Hawaii just as lucky? As surprising as it may seem for a place that is full of amazing hotels and resorts, Hawaii has some very strict gambling laws. These laws can be found in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, Title 37, Chapter 712. Only two States in the US don’t allow for any kind of organised gambling at all, and Hawaii is one of them. The other state is Utah. This means you won’t find any casinos, race tracks, or sports books in this island state. Naturally, this also means no live poker rooms with Texas holdem, and definitely no online poker. Poker in Hawaii, including Live and Online Poker Rooms in every city, tournament schedules, series events, promotions, and community discussion.

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• Online Poker Hawaii

Hawaii online poker enjoys a thriving presence within the US gambling market. This is in spite of the fact that Hawaii is by far one of the harshest states concerning gambling. Lawmakers in the Aloha State tend to consistently vote against legislation that would introduce some legal form of gambling reportedly out of fear that it would disrupt their tourism revenues (despite legitimate arguments being made in opposite direction). Regardless of the state’s fear of gambling, private, in home social games of poker are still legal in a clause called “Social Gambling” that most states allow. And this isn’t the only form of legal poker that residents of HI have available to them either. There are licensed and regulated online poker sites that accept players from Hawaii and are located outside of the US federal jurisdiction. These sites are among numerous Hawaii online gambling destinations that are sometimes referred to as US friendly offshore gambling sites.

This guide was created to explain to you exactly why it’s legal for Hawaiian players to patronize legal, US online poker rooms and to explain how state and federal gambling laws were written not to impact the gambler but just the owner/operators that provide those gambling services. Once we get through explaining the legal and regulatory details you can take a look at some of our recommended poker sites to get a feel for what you should expect in terms of the industry standards. This includes bonus packages, game selections, legitimacy/credentials, software availability and banking options.

Are Online Poker Sites Legal In Hawaii?

There are no United States gambling laws or Hawaii state gambling laws that would stop any Hawaiian player from using online poker sites to enjoy real-money gambling, as long as these sites are located outside of the United States where they can find the proper legal regulation. There are only three states in the country that have embraced state based legalized online gambling and have created the sanctioning bodies needed to regulate such an industry. Those states only allow residents from those states to use those sites. All of the legally sanctioned online poker sites that want to freely market to Americans from any state must be located outside of the United States so that they can find the regulation that they need. If the site is located outside the scope of US federal jurisdiction, there is no charge that can be brought up on the casual citizen for using them. Its totally legal. The question of state regulated online poker is left up to the authority of each individual state according to the DOJ Formal Opinion regarding the application of the Federal Wire Act, so HI can choose to launch a state based online poker initiative at any time they choose.

Legally Licensed Online Poker Sites Accepting Hawaii Players

These are our top choices for playing poker online. Our team of technical analysts have taken the time to meticulously take apart each aspect of these sites to ensure that their credentials are in order. We only include brands that have been verified to hold legitimately licensing and that are subject to legitimate regulatory oversight. These poker rooms accept Hawaiian players and provide a secure, high quality poker gaming experience. We have created a similar guide pertaining to Hawaii online casinos as well.

Other Hawaii Gambling Pages

FAQs About Hawaiian Online Poker Gambling

What Games Can I Play At Hawaii Online Poker Rooms?

Legal offshore online poker sites have been the largest contributor in competitive poker since the World Series of poker was created. These poker rooms are usually made proprietary by the companies themselves and have allowed competitive poker players to jump ahead of the curve in experience to see more hands per day than ever before. The online poker options that will be available from these major providers will allow you to play multiple games at once and see as many as up to 10,000 hands per day if you pay nonstop.

You will see all the options for the US online poker games and tournaments available from the poker site’s lobby. The premium brands have a very active online poker tournaments schedule full of various tournament formats and promotions. Americana poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha hi/lo, 32 Card Draw, HORSE and 3, 5, and 7 card stud poker variations are all the most popular games that will be offered to you on a regular basis. If you don’t like to play with high or even medium stakes, there are options for low stakes games for you to stay relaxed in while you enjoy gambling low amounts of real money. Of course there is also the option for the high stakes and medium stakes games with the appropriate buy in amounts.

Can I Play For Free At Online Poker Sites?

Free play is becoming more available as time goes on but it’s still not available industry wide. The problem rests in betting currency and without any betting currency the game of poker really changes into something that doesn’t quite look like poker any more. Some sites offer free play in the form of a button that toggles your game search criteria from “real money” to “play money” in which you can join and play real games with other real competitors that are also using “play money” for practice. This is a really good addition to the industry as it allows inexperienced players to get to know the digital interface.

There are also the freeroll tournaments and the no deposit bonuses. In the freeroll tournaments you will be allowed to enter without paying an entrance fee and possibly end up making a real money profit if you win and play your cards rights. The no deposit bonuses work in a similar way where the online poker provider will provide you with free chips to try out their games, if you meet all wagering requirements you may also be allowed to keep your winnings without ever having bet any of your own money.

Are There Online Poker Bonuses For Players In HI?

All of our recommended online poker sites offer generous bonuses, promotions and incentives. The welcome bonus has become an industry standard and it functions as a way for theses websites to offer you incentives for visiting their site. It’s normally a match bonus that comes attached with a percentage. That percentage is the amount of your first deposit that they will match to offer you more funds to gamble with in their systems. You might see something along the lines of “100% match bonus on your first deposit up to $1000”. This means that the website will take your entire first deposit and double it up to a maximum of $1000. Aside from the welcome bonus you will see a myriad of other promotions and bonuses including reload bonuses, bad beat bonuses, tournament promos, special promotions and more. You will find these types of bonuses at most online gambling sites, including Hawaii online sportsbooks, casinos and bingo sites.

Can I Play Real Money Poker Games From My Mobile Phone?

Yes! HTML5 has really changed the online poker community for the better in recent years. Before HTML5, real money online poker apps were hard to come by because the games require a bit more than typical web apps could deliver. The standalone apps that were created ran into hosting issues with the iPhone App Store and the Android Google Play Store because they were meant only for gambling and those companies put arbitrary restrictions up against apps like those. HTML5 has allowed programmers to develop web based apps that are optimized for mobile use and that can handle the strain needed for online poker. This allows everyone, no matter what mobile device you have, to play real-money poker on the go. You can enjoy just about any type of online gambling from your smartphone or tablet, including Hawaii online bingo, sports betting and casino games.

What Are the Banking Options?

It’s in a company’s best interest to provide as many ways as possible for you to pay them. Especially online gambling websites. While all the deposit and withdrawal options are different at each of the respective sites, there are common denominators throughout. Of those, we usually see the major credit cards, Visa and MasterCard and the digital currency, Bitcoin. Some sites accept Discover card, American Express, prepaid debit cards, and other cryptocurrencies. There are also money transfer options like person to person and bank to bank transfers using services like Western Union and MoneyGram, as well as options to mail a check. When requesting a withdrawal, the options for US residents include check by courier, money transfer or Bitcoin.

I would argue that Hawaii beats Utah and Georgia to the position of least gambling friendly of all the States. Not only is just about all forms of gambling banned here (only social poker games where nobody profits are allowed), it is extremely hard for residents to find a legal game nearby! At least in Utah people can get to Nevada quickly and GA residents can enjoy the Florida Poker rooms. The closest legal casino poker game to Hawaii is in California, 5 hours flight away.

Recommended Hawaii Poker Site

This page gives you all the information you need to know covering poker in the State of Hawaii on one page. First of all, live casino poker games are discussed, or rather the complete lack of them. After that the only available format is covered – social home games. I have also explained why bar leagues are not possible under Hawaiian law. Next online poker games are covered, along with speculation on whether regulation is possible here. At the end of the page you will find the wording covering poker from the Hawaiian Statutes, along with a big picture summary of the state of play for poker fans here.

Live Poker Games In Hawaii

There are no casinos or poker rooms on any of the Hawaiian Islands. The idea of opening a casino to take advantage of tourist dollars has been raised in the HI government, though this has not made it to a vote. As things stand the closest legal poker rooms are in California, more than 2400 miles away.

Social Poker – Are Home Games Legal In Hawaii?

Home games are the only legal form of poker in Hawaii. The rules for hosting these games are very strict, with nobody able to make a profit from the games in any way at all. This includes selling beverages to the people in the games – which effectively excludes social bar leagues from this State.

There are regular busts and big headlines coming from them where people try and run for-profit underground poker games in this State. There are not even any charity poker tournaments in Hawaii.

Hawaii Online Poker Game

Online Poker Games In Hawaii

As you might imagine, a State which does not have a single casino, bar league or even charity poker night is not the most likely candidate to regulate online poker games. As in most States, there is no specific anti-internet wording in the Statute books – this is assumed by the enforcement-happy authorities here to be adequately covered by the general ban on all gambling activity.

Some offshore poker sites, that operate from offshore locations (mostly in the Caribbean), still welcome players from Hawaii. These internet poker rooms are legal in their own countries, and they argue that they are free to accept customers from any country under international free trade laws. Deposits and withdrawals do require extra effort, however tens of thousands of US citizens enjoy the cash games and tournaments at these sites every week. Remember, from a legal perspective, if you play at an offshore poker site from Hawaii, this is done at your own risk.

Given the general background and attitude towards any form of gambling, the chances that Hawaii will regulate online poker are extremely remote. It looks like this State would be left behind even if most of the others were showing healthy revenue for their State coffers from legal internet poker.

What Do The Hawaii Gambling Statutes Say?

The Hawaii laws are a little more complicated than in some States, requiring you to cross-reference different definitions. These have remained the same since they were written in 1959, and are broad enough to cover just about every possible type of gambling you can think of. It might look as if the ‘poker is a skill game’ can apply when you first see the main definition of illegal gambling. Unfortunately this does not work, with the ‘contest of chance’ definition including those games where there is an element of skill involved.

Here are the key excerpts from the Hawaii Statute books, fort the definition of gambling and then the definition of a contest of chance – both from Section 71, 1220:

…stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence…

…any contest, game, gaming scheme, or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may also be a factor therein…

Hawaii Online Programs

Hawaii Poker – Summing It Up

At least if you live in Utah, you can get to the Nevada border within 2 hours drive from Salt Lake City. With Hawaii, not only are you in the least gambling friendly State of all, you are also isolated from any legal games. The only silver lining is that social home games are permitted here, as long as nobody makes a profit from the game in any conceivable way.

Online Poker Hawaii

Online regulation is a big ‘no’ for this State – though some of the offshore sites will accept players from HI.