Legal Online Poker Colorado

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Welcome to LegalPokerColorado.com, the number one resource for the best legal Colorado online poker sites. Here, you're going to learn about the Colorado online poker statutes and where it is safe to play online poker in Colorado. Keep it clicked here for the most up to date information about the current status of online poker sites accepting Colorado residents.

Is Online Poker Legal In Colorado?

  • Legal Online Poker Rooms For Colorado Residents The origins of poker are not clear to us. The history books cannot pinpoint from where the game derives, but poker has been a great American pastime for centuries, from the steamboats traveling the Mississippi River in the early 1800’s, to the World Series of Poker.
  • It’s not illegal to play online poker in the state of Colorado at licensed and regulated offshore sites. It’s not illegal to play online poker at legally sanctioned destinations in any state, except Washington.
  • Legal Online Poker For Colorado Residents. We have looked deep into the industry of legal online poker in Colorado, as this is one of the most profitable games around. If you are going to play legal online.
  • Colorado is a reasonable state to live in for poker players. On one hand online poker is illegal (at least that's a reasonable interpretation), but on the other hand it's possible to play poker live in any licensed.

When it comes to poker, the Colorado gambling laws are pretty permissive. It can safely be played online or offline but in either case it must be played within a residence. The only way you can go wrong with online poker in Colorado is if you decide to open up your own online poker room. In that case, the state isn't very friendly and we would strongly advise against doing this.

Is it Legal to Play Poker Online in Colorado? Since Colorado considers poker to be a form of gambling, it forms part of the Unlawful Gambling Act, which was signed in 2006. This limits players from using electronic payment methods such as credit cards, cheques.

Legal Online Poker Sites For Colorado Residents

After trying out a huge number of online poker sites that accept Colorado residents, we have built a list of some of the top ones out there where all Colorado residents are warmly welcome. All of these sites will welcome you with open arms and all of them are top of the line poker rooms. You can play all the different types of online poker and also play in some very big poker tournaments.

BetOnline Poker - One Of Colorado's Best Legal Online Poker Sites

Colorado is no stranger to the complex game of poker. For years some of the best players in the nation have hailed from the great mountains of Colorado. These players have all chosen one place to play as well and that place is BetOnline. It is no surprise that this is the site the champions have chosen as their stomping ground, after all so many can rise from humble beginnings with just the slightest push in the right direction and BetOnline practically shoves people to the winners circle.

How does it help so many to rise through the ranks quickly? The secret lies in the deposit bonus. With BetOnline any player who signs up has the chance at getting 200% of their first deposit back. That’s double what is put in given back to new players. For any poker player who is determined to be one of the best this extra money quickly helps them establish themselves in the sites leaderboards. What may seem like an insignificant amount of money by the time a player is at the top of the leaderboards is the lifeblood that sustained so many new players on BetOnline and the amazing part is they still offer this deposit bonus even now. Any Colorado resident who has a burning passion for poker owes it to themselves to begin their ascent at BetOnline.

SportsBetting Poker - Colorado Residents Have Played Here For 10+ Years

While the air may be thin in the state that is the home to the Rocky Mountain range, the resident’s wallets are thick as pea soup after going to SportsBetting to play in their poker room. How can one site be so profitable for so many residents across the state? The secret lies in the plethora of guaranteed tournaments and skill challenges that SportsBetting has running for their players throughout the week.

When someone goes to SportsBetting to play they are going to win. Every week there is a $10,000 dollar guaranteed money tournament and throughout the week there are dozens of smaller tournaments. The money adds up quick and by the end of the week $250,000 dollars in guaranteed tournaments has been played and many users find themselves a whole lot richer. For a little extra cash on the side SportsBetting also often has a skill challenge going where each week players must try and get a certain hand or win in a certain way. For someone who plays a lot of poker these skill challenges will be easy to accomplish and essentially just be free money waiting for the taking. Still they add to the excitement of every hand in every game.

Money

Playing poker online in Colorado is a shady area from a legal point of view. Legislation hasn't been updated to match nowadays' technology level, so we are still back in the times where 'transmitting or receiving gambling information, in a knowingly matter, over telephone, telegraph, semaphore or any other means, is a class three misdemeanor'.

Playing poker online would probably be regarded as transmitting gambling information over some communication channel. Nevertheless, no one has ever been prosecuted for breaking this law in Colorado so, as long as you don't plan to open your own online poker service, you can rest assured that law enforcement representatives won't be paying you any visits. Monitoring Internet connections is difficult for any state or federal agency, if not illegal, so no one will come after you for playing a few hands online every once in a while.

Is Land Based Poker Legal in Colorado?

For poker fanatics who live deep in the heart of the Colorado Rockies, there may be a bit of confusion as to the legal status of their favorite hobby, especially considering the most recent revision of Colorado statutes. Many residents wonder whether or not it is legal for them to play poker for money. The answer, unfortunately, in not quite black and white.

While it’s true that in an effort to control organized crime within the state Colorado shut down and criminalized all forms of gambling, (which, according to the letter of the law leaves no doubt that poker would be included) recent amendments to that law have allowed Colorado residents to play poker for money in various, state licensed facilities located throughout the state.

Aside from legal poker rooms, Colorado also has interesting legislation regarding private games. While they strictly outlaw even participation in gambling, this law does not apply if the gambling takes place inside a private residence that does not host poker “for profit.” This means that while it would be illegal to pay for a seat in a privately run game where you compete for money or to play in any poker room where a “rake” or percentage of each pot is collected as profit for the poker room, is actually legal to play in a private establishment where this is not the case, whether the “gambling place” is licensed by the state commission or not.

Colorado residents may very well be wondering what this means for private games. If one takes place in an illegal game that collects profits, they will be subject to a misdemeanor and could face fines. However, this pales in comparison to what would happen if one is convicted of HOSTING a poker game for profit. In that case, they could be charged with a felony and face prison time.

The lesson would seem to be that when it comes to private poker games, as long as there are no fees associated with playing, even if money is wagered, all parties are safe from legal prosecution.

Where to Play Legal Poker in Colorado

In many different facets, Colorado seems to be at the forefront of progressive policies and legal poker rooms are no exception. Colorado residents may participate in poker tournaments where they may place bets and wagers in any number of casinos spread around the state, mainly based near smaller, historically relevant cities.

Although these legal poker host only no limit hold ‘em tournaments, therefore forsaking just about all other variants of poker, they offer a full range of buy-ins in hopes of successfully serving the needs of all Colorado residents, no matter the stakes of game they wish to participate in.

If a player wishes to play a game more for recreation without potentially losing a lot of money, they may enter in a tournament for as low as $30. On the other hand, if a player considers themselves a seasoned poker veteran, they may enter in a legal Colorado tournament with a buy-in of over $300 to hopefully rack in a much larger chunk of winnings.

Colorado’s state laws are very tolerant of land based poker, however, for residents who are a far drive away from the legal casinos or even for players who crave some variety in how they play poker, it may not be the very best option.

Note: The facts presented on this website shouldn't be taken as legal advice about online poker sites that accept USA Players. We are not legal counselors, but rather a handful of enthusiastic poker players who want to share our knowledge and help others understand the legal implications of playing online poker in Colorado. Should you believe that you need further and perhaps more accurate advice, please consult with an attorney.


Colorado is one of the few “square” states that seems to be all for online Internet real money poker and casino gambling. Home to the Grand Canyon, the Denver Broncos and approximately 40 tribal and commercial legal casinos, the Centennial State has an amenable relationship with lawful poker betting, largely due to more than $750 million that CO State’s casinos generate in annual revenue.

Given its booming casino industry, which has multiplied by a factor of five over the past five years, it comes as little surprise that Colorado would have a vested interest in pursuing an Internet gambling bill in 2021 that would cover real cash betting on games like Texas Hold’em and other poker variants. And while no official gambling website act has been brought before the CO Senate floor yet, the state’s pro-gambling factions are likely to make a possible push for legal Internet poker in the near future.

It’s cold in The Rockies. Stay inside and have fun by wagering on any of our real money US poker websites.

Colorado One Of 10 States Most Likely To Regulate Online Gambling

Quick Jump

  • 5 The Facts
In 2014 The gambling industry authority, Gambling Compliance [1], announced that at least 10 states were poised to either expand or regulate real money Internet poker or casino games in 2014 [2]. And while it was certainly expected that states like Illinois, California and Pennsylvania would weigh in on the issue, at the time few surmised that Colorado would appear on the short list of states primed to bring legal real cash poker and online gambling to the masses.

But as it turns out, several of Colorado’s gambling and betting interests, including CO State’s largest casino operator, Pinnacle Entertainment, are open to the idea of creating legal poker websites for people in the Rocky Mountain state in 2021. And according to Lois Rice, executive director of the Colorado Gaming Association, talks with some legislators who were interested in pursuing real money Internet poker betting have already taken place [3].

Before passing an iGaming Act relating to lawful Texas Hold’em poker websites and other gambling sites, it is expected that Colorado’s state officials will closely analyze the performance of New Jersey’s and Nevada’s lawful online gambling markets. . As implied by Rice, CO State’s gambling proponents would be hard pressed to move forward with regulating Internet poker until they could more accurately predict the effects online Internet gambling would have on its already thriving land-based casino and real money poker industry.

Although early numbers out of New Jersey indicated that online gamblers are of a different stock than their brick and mortar casino and poker betting counterparts [4], the Internet poker and gambling industry is still in its infancy, rendering the data incomplete.

Latest Colorado Poker News

Colorado Considers Online GamblingBy Todd Wilkins
Another state has emerged as a candidate to regulate online poker and gambling, as Colorado lawmakers are said to be considering legislation.…

Can Players From Colorado Play Online Poker?

Given Colorado’s exceedingly liberal stance with regards to land-based legal poker and casino games for gambling fans, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that 2021 poker websites currently accepting US players are acquiescent to patrons of Colorado who want in on the real cash Texas Hold’em action on the Internet. The same can’t be said for Utah, the Centennial State’s neighbor to the West.

So if you were worried that signing up to play online Internet poker for real money would prove more difficult than traversing the Grand Canyon – fear not. Our hand-picked list of the best legit poker websites on our homepage are designed to do most of the heavy lifting for you, allowing you to kick back, and click away to enjoy the poker betting fun.

  • U. S. Poker Site
  • Compatibillity
  • Editor Rating
  • Deposit Bonus
  • Very player friendly
  • Generous cashback
  • Great mobile play

Is Playing Online Poker legal In Colorado?

As one of only a few non-coastal states that facilitate gambling, Colorado’s 2021 gambling statues are generally mild in nature. The Rocky Mountain state’s law enforcement agencies rarely pursue real cash poker players with vigor, focusing the majority of their efforts on Internet gambling operators instead.

Still, CO State’s definition of gambling is exceedingly broad and can easily be interpreted to include poker betting under its scope:

Gambling means risking any real money, credit, deposit, or other thing of value for gain contingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance, the operation of a gambling device, or the happening or outcome of an event, including a sporting event, over which the person taking a risk has no control. Section 18-10-102(2)

Just the phrase relating to chance, implies that playing offline or Internet poker in 2021 is considered gambling.

The definition goes on to list several exceptions, one of which pertains to social gamblers:

Exempt is any game, wager, or transaction which is incidental to a bona fide social relationship, is participated in by natural persons only, and in which no person is participating, directly or indirectly, in professional gambling. Section 18-10-102(2d)

In order to fully gauge the aforementioned definition, it is imperative to understand how the state sees professional real cash gambling.

Professional gambling means: (a) Aiding or inducing another to engage in gambling, with the intent to derive a profit therefrom; or (b) Participating in gambling and having, other than by virtue of skill or luck, a lesser chance of losing or a greater chance of winning than one of more of the other participants. Section 18-10-102(8)

In other words, real money poker players who cheat or goad fish betting in a poker game into a gambling setting with the intention of exploiting them are considered professional gamblers. Operators could be classified as professional gamblers as well. Otherwise, in so long as the house doesn’t charge a fee or take a rake, playing Texas Hold’em or any other kind of poker shouldn’t present an issue.

The penalties for participating in illicit gambling activities are minimal, at worst:

A person who engages in gambling commits a class 1 petty offense. Section 18-10-103

In short, gamblers receive a slap on the wrist. Operators, on the other hand are subject to class 1 misdemeanors for first offenses, and class 5 felonies for subsequent violations.

Regarding online poker, the law is less direct:

Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, or other means or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission of receipt or gambling information commits a class 3 misdemeanor. If the offender is a repeating gambling offender, it is a class 6 felony. Section 18-10-106

Certainly, this statue was penned before the advent of Internet poker websites and online gambling. Yet conveniently, it does indirectly infer that running an online real cash Internet poker operation within Colorado’s borders is in fact illegal. That being said, the definition only applies to those who conduct gambling operations, not to the poker players who are betting.

As you can see, the legality of playing online poker in Colorado in 2021 resides in a murky gray area, and the decision about how legal poker websites are is best left to a legal professional to decide. However, to our knowledge no one has been prosecuted for wagering real money online on Internet poker games.

For more on Colorado’s state code [5], please refer to the “References” section.

The Facts

The History Of Gambling In Colorado

As far back as the early 1800s, gold miners, prospectors and trappers either living in Colorado or simply passing through CO spurred the growth of gambling within the state. It’s widely believed that Colorado was home to the nation’s first real cash poker and casino gambling house, a saloon that went by the name Brown’s Saloon. Brown’s was located in Black Hawk, Colorado [6] – a town that would later on serve as home base for the gambling and betting boom that would sweep the state.

Despite laws that rendered gambling illegal, real money wagering on Texas Hold’em poker and other games continued on in Colorado well into the early-1900s. But it wouldn’t be until much later on (the late 20th century) that the first legal poker rooms and casinos would open their doors to the public.

In 1988, the Federal government passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which effectively allowed tribal factions to operate legal poker games and casinos within their grounds. Fast forward three years later and casinos offering real cash poker and casino games were already beginning to crop up in Black Hawk and nearby Central City.

However, Colorado imposed severe limitations on how casinos could conduct their operations. For instance, the maximum wager that a betting fan could place was a paltry $5. Also, casinos could only operate during designated hours and only CO players over the age of 21 were permitted to take part in gambling on poker and other games by betting.

That being said, the Colorado Limited Gaming Act of 1990 did allow for blackjack, slot machines and most notably poker. The law would be relaxed in 2008, thus ushering in a second real money poker and gambling boom; one that has continued to this very day and has even stretched to Internet poker. To date, Colorado boasts approximately 40 commercial and tribal casinos and reaps in five times the annual gambling revenue than it did just five years earlier thanks to a range of lawful real cash poker games and other casino classics.

In 1983, Colorado legalized the sale of lottery tickets and today permits players to participate in a wide variety of real money lottery gambling formats, including the multi-jurisdiction Powerball and Mega Millions drawings.

Regulated Gambling Options In Colorado

Since 2008, casino and legal poker gambling in Colorado more closely resembles that found in popular gambling states like New Jersey and Nevada. Many of Colorado’s largest casinos now boast several considerably sized real cash poker rooms full of betting options for CO residents, the majority of which are located in Central City and Black Hawk.

Pari-mutuel wagering, lottery sales and charitable bingo and raffles are also permitted within Colorado State – not bad for a state that only first introduced regulated legit poker and casino gambling into its culture 30 years ago.

The Future Of Regulated Online Gambling In Colorado

In late 2013, Colorado lawmakers began drafting an iGaming bill that would authorize real money gambling at online Internet poker websites. The effort stalled, but it proves that Colorado’s powers-that-be are beyond the point of merely discussing an iGaming act, and ready to take action in 2021 on the issue of Internet gambling.

Fun Fact

In 2010, a Colorado Supreme Court refused to weigh in on the skill vs. chance debate with regards to both offline and Internet poker [7]. The debate began two years earlier, when the state’s Bureau of Investigation arrested five gambling operators for holding a $20 real money poker tournament. Pro-poker advocates were in an uproar, using the opportunity to advocate poker as a game of skill and therefore legal for betting on.

The charges against the real cash poker operators were eventually dropped, although the jury did not state the reasoning behind the verdict. Afterwards, one of the accused, Kevin Raley, with support from the Poker Player’s Alliance, asked the Supreme Court to examine the case. It did not oblige.

The Bottom Line

Expect Colorado to move forward with iGaming legislature relating to legal poker websites and Internet casinos in 2015 and beyond. The regulated poker and gambling market is still too new for cautious lawmakers to pursue an act with vigor, and Colorado’s casinos and real money poker rooms are already doing well enough to justify waiting a bit longer before introducing a new sector into the already expansive CO real cash gambling scene.

Considering that the proper regulatory oversight committees are already in place, once an iGaming bill for Internet poker and gambling websites is signed into law, it probably wouldn’t take more than a year before the first online Internet poker room opens its virtual doors to real money poker players in CO.
That being said, it’s considerably more likely that Colorado, like Nevada, will only pursue making Internet poker websites legal in 2021. The good thing is, Colorado’s hefty population of 5.2 million, many of them avid real cash poker players, could indeed produce a healthy online Internet poker betting community.

References

[1] ↑Gambling Compliance

[2] ↑10 states primed to expand Internet gambling opportunities in 2014

[3] ↑Colorado explores online gambling as virtual and mobile casinos boom

[4] ↑Borgata Boss: Online Poker is No Threat to B&M Casinos

[5] ↑Colorado Legal Resources

[6] ↑Black Hawk, Colorado

Colorado Poker Rooms

[7] ↑Colorado Supreme Court rejects poker case

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