The future of regulated Alabama online poker is good but not great. It will probably take 5 - 10 years before this state comes on board for state-licensed real money online poker in Alabama. Until then, residents of the state will be pleased to know that there are many licensed and regulated offshore sites available to choose from, like Ignition Poker.
These Alabama online poker sites host a full complement of gaming options, and there is no indication that this will change anytime soon.
Get started right away by clicking to sign up with one of these highly rated Alabama online poker sites:
Alabama law takes a dim view of gambling, and poker is no exception. However, private social games benefit from a carveout in the strict Alabama statutes. Online games, too, fall into the realm of activities that the authorities couldn't care less about.
To date there has never been a prosecution for playing online poker in Alabama. You're totally fine, from a legal perspective if you wish to boot up your computer and open a few real money poker tables.
The sites for online poker in Alabama consist mostly of reputable operators, but there are a few shady organizations mixed into the picture. In order to protect you from companies that might be engaged in underhanded business tactics, we've looked closely at all of them and identified those that are known for their trustworthiness and solidity.
No matter which of the below rooms you opt to make your poker home, you'll be treated to fair games, responsive customer support, and the faithful payment of any cash you should happen to win.
We've included simple instructions below on how to sign up to our top rated Alabama online poker site, Ignition. The specific steps may be slightly different or occur in a different order depending on the site you choose to register for, but they should follow the format we present for Ignition.
There are many online poker sites for Alabama residents, and each does things a bit differently. In order to identify the best Alabama online poker rooms, we evaluate them according to a set of criteria and use these metrics to determine which ones are worth recommending.
Different sites offer different lineups of games. No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Pot Limit Omaha/8 cash games are the basics and are found at almost all sites, but even within these three basic formats, the blind levels offered vary between rooms. Some poker rooms have additional poker variants, like Stud, Limit Omaha/8, and HORSE, too.
SNGs and tournament schedules also tend to change drastically from site to site. Some host freerolls, satellites to live tourneys, tournament series, and other special events.
Getting money on to and off of online poker sites is an essential aspect of their operations. Most poker rooms support credit cards, money transfers, checks, and other familiar payment methods.
However, almost all of them now also transact in Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. These innovative financial instruments enable speedy, relatively anonymous transactions with low fees and little governmental interference.
If you're not yet familiar with Bitcoin, check out this guide to using BTC for online poker.
Most poker sites provide welcome bonuses to new players. A bonus might be expressed as something like, “100% up to $1,000 on your first deposit.” This means that whatever amount you deposit, it will be matched by the percentage indicated up to the maximum value (in this case $1,000).
Bonuses aren't available for withdrawal right away. In most cases, they will slowly be paid out as you play until the entire amount is converted to cash in your account or the bonus expires.
Other promotions, like leaderboards, redeposit bonuses, rake races, and missions, deliver their value over time. Some of them are seasonal and change frequently while others are more or less permanent.
There's a special type of promotion called rakeback that is provided by several online poker sites. This is an ongoing rebate on the rake you pay at the tables, and it generally lasts for the lifetime of your account.
Rakeback is one of the best tools for boosting your bottom line as an online poker player. We appreciate the benefits of rakeback so much that it's part of the name of our site, Professional Rakeback.
There are several sites for online poker in Alabama that offer rakeback which you can sign up for:
Now, let's get into the details of each of our recommended Alabama online poker sites. We'll give you solid facts, gleaned from our extensive experience at each site, so that you can decide which one best suits your preferences and style of play.
Credit Card, Voucher Code, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, MatchPay
Ignition has games aplenty, including NL Hold'em, PLO, PLO/8, Limit Hold'em, fast-fold Zone Poker, lottery-style Jackpots, and a full complement of single- and multi-table tournaments for your enjoyment. Cash game blinds range from $0.02/$0.05 to $10/$20 for the big-bet games.
Of the internet poker venues for Alabama, this one has the most player traffic and therefore the greatest number of games running. Of particular note are the $150,000 Guaranteed, a Sunday tourney with a $150 + $12 buyin, and frequent MTT series that award millions in prizes.
Ignition is the home of anonymized poker, which means there are no screennames, and users are simply assigned a player number upon taking a seat. This means you cannot track your opponents' play over time and get a bead on them over the long term, but it also makes newer players feel comfortable and thus leads to some truly soft tables.
Ignition provides installers for Windows and Mac users, and you can play on the web with most smartphones and tablets. New poker players receive a 150% up to $1,500 Bitcoin deposit bonus as well as another $1,500 casino bonus.
Credit Cards, Person to Person, Money Orders, Bank Wire, Cashiers Check, Bitcoin, Avalanche, Binance, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Polygon, Ripple, Shiba Inu, Solana, Stellar, Tether, Tron, USD Coin
SB Poker and its virtually identical sister site, BetOnline, offer a wide selection of cash games, including NL Hold'em, PLO, and PLO/8, featuring blinds up to $5/$10. Fast-fold Boost Poker, sit-and-gos, randomized Windfall SNGs, and numerous MTTs are also present.
SB Poker boasts many promotions, like Bad Beat Jackpots, leaderboards, contests, and the RISE rewards program, which promise to give you some extra money to pad your bankroll. On the other hand, the first deposit bonus clears slowly, and the rake is a on the higher side.
The SB Poker and BetOnline downloads run on any Windows or Mac system. Mobile users on Android or iOS can also utilize an excellent mobile application. You can receive a first deposit bonus worth 100% up to $1,000 to play poker, and be sure to check out the attached casino and sportsbook for additional promotional offers.
Credit Card, Voucher Code, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, MatchPay
Bovada is a sister site related to Ignition, so the poker games and tables are exactly the same. However, Bovada offers a sportsbook, something that Ignition does not. Whether you're a fan of baseball, football, soccer, hockey, or more unique contests, you'll likely be able to place all the bets you want at Bovada. There's horse racing and eSports betting too!
The poker welcome bonus is only 1/3 the size of Ignition's at $500. The bonus clearing rate is the same as Ignition.
You can download and run Bovada on your Windows or Mac OS machine, and the web client allows those with iOS and Android systems to play too. The poker bonus here is 100% up to $500, and there's up to $750 in bonus money for sports and up to $3,750 to use in the casino.
Credit Cards, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, Money Transfer
ACR Poker is well known for its tournament schedule, which has been growing every year. There's a strong weekly MTT lineup, several series throughout the year, and amazing $5M+ VENOM tournaments a couple of times annually.
Of course, you can get your fill of standard poker fare here too, like NLHE, PLO, PLO/8, 7 Card Stud, LO8, and Limit Hold'em cash games at stakes as low as $0.01/$0.02 and as high as $200/$400. Jackpot Poker with lottery-inspired multipliers and Blitz fast-fold cash games are also available.
The standard ACR poker client operates on PCs and Macs, but there's also a mobile app available for smartphone and tablet users. Enter the PRB-exclusive ACR bonus code PRB10FREE to redeem $10 free. You may also deposit for a 100% up to $2,000 bonus match.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, CHP, Polygon, BNB
CoinPoker is currently the busiest crypto-only poker room available online. The tables are denominated only utilizing USDT, or Tether. You also can use a few other cryptos for deposits and withdrawals.
One benefit of this room is the leaderboards for cash games, fast-fold Cosmic Spins sit-n-goes, and multi-table tournaments. NL Hold'em, PL Omaha, and 5 Card Omaha are present, but PLO/8 and LHE are lacking. There are no non-lottery Sit & Gos either.
You can play at CoinPoker from any Mac, PC, Android, or iOS device. You'll be able to benefit from a generous deposit bonus of 150% up to $2,000. You will also have the option of earning 33% rakeback weekly if you're willing to invest a little into the proprietary CHP coin.
Credit Card, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Lightning Bitcoin, Litecoin
Everygame does not have the traffic of some of its competitors, and its software platform is a bit outdated, but where it stands out is in its exceptional promotional offerings. 36% rakeback is offered as the standard, and rakeback payments are issued daily. Additional value can be had through the weekly rake races, overlay tournaments, reload bonuses, and a VIP loyalty program.
Everygame Poker is available for download on Windows devices only. Users of other hardware have the option of an instant-play version of the poker software, which is compatible with almost any modern computer, tablet, or mobile device. The poker welcome bonus is worth 200% of your first deposit up to $1,000, and it clears pretty rapidly.
Bitcoin
SwCPoker is a crypto poker room online that is highly regarded for its wide range of poker formats supported. All poker here is played with BTC, and cashier functions also are limited to this crypto coin. One major selling point of SwC is that you can play at micro-stakes tables without paying any rake whatsoever, so you can increase your profits as you learn.
SwC runs on any modern device, including Mac, PC, iOS, and Android machines. You won't get any bonuses here, but you'll be able to receive up to 50% rakeback based on your play at the tables.
Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, USD Coin, BNB
Nitrobetting's cashier is Bitcoin-only, which results in impressively fast payouts, oftentimes taking less than an hour. There are only two types of poker here: NL Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha.
Nitrobetting’s poker client is fully web-based, so it is compatible with nearly all popular devices. There's no poker bonus, but you can redeem up to 35% rakeback depending on your monthly volume of play. Visit the attached sportsbook and casino to receive additional promotions.
This section aims to provide factual information regarding land-based gambling, the history of poker and gambling in Alabama, and famous AL poker players along with similar other related subjects. .
Alabama is one of the strictest anti-gambling states around, and so it's no surprise that there are no live commercial casinos where poker can be found. There are three tribal casinos within Alabama's boundaries, but none of them offer poker.
Alabama doesn't have any membership or charitable cardrooms either. The prospects for live poker, apart from social home games, is grim, so online poker is definitely your best alternative.
The history of poker and other gambling in Alabama has basically been a tug-of-war between conservative prohibitionists on the one side and free-wheeling businessmen who had no problem running lucrative underground gambling enterprises on the other. Saloons and riverboats catered to the gaming masses in the 19th century, and later on, their place was taken by Prohibition-era venues, like a speakeasy in the DeSoto Caverns and the crooked gambling parlors of Phenix City.
Whenever these shenanigans reached an excessive level, reformist politicians and law enforcement officials moved in to clean things up. Then some time later, illicit gambling facilities would open up again.
Right now, we seem to be in a period of little gambling in Alabama. Perhaps the tide will turn, as it has so often in the past, toward a toleration of some small-time gaming among the public, but for the moment, it's slim pickings for would-be real money Alabama wagerers.
A testament perhaps to the love that Alabamans have for the game is the fact that several notable poker personages hail from the state. This is the case despite the lack of legal cardrooms anywhere within its borders.
Double-WSOP bracelet winner Hoyt Corkins, for one, is from Glenwood, Alabama. Shannon Shorr, a Birmingham native, is the only Alabama player to have amassed more live poker tournament winnings than Corkins' $6.1 million. Shorr's total stands at more than $13.2 million.
Perhaps you happen to have another address in a nearby state, be it your business location, summer home, second apartment, family homestead, etc. If so, then you may have other online poker options available to you. Here is a list of the states that border Alabama and Professional Rakeback's review on each of them: Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. If you seek info about internet poker in the United States as a whole rather than any individual state, then our U.S.A. players guide ought to prove useful.
There are no practical obstacles to playing online poker in Alabama. No laws are enforced against the activity, and there are several top-notch sites that are waiting to serve you. Join up at one of our recommended operators today, and take a seat at exciting Alabama online poker tables.
We here at ProfessionalRakeback find online poker to be a fun, engaging, and intellectually stimulating hobby. However, we recognize that there are some who struggle with gambling addiction and for whom internet poker might not be the best pastime. If you think you might have a problem, then you can check out the following resources:
Online poker in Alabama is a subject that's complex and has a lot of moving parts. If you still have unanswered questions about it, then look below in our FAQ where there's a good chance that you'll find the answers.
Yes, poker played over the internet is effectively legal in Alabama. Though there are anti-gambling laws that could potentially apply, the truth of the matter is that these laws have never been used to go after online poker players. Therefore, from a legal perspective, you're totally in the clear if you wish to partake in online poker in Alabama.
Yes, PokerStars is offering its services to Alabamans legally. However, these services are limited to play money games, and it's impossible to play at PokerStars for real money in Alabama.
Alabama has several minimum gambling ages depending on the type of betting involved. For parimutuel racetrack wagering, the age is either 18 or 19 depending on the county in which the racetrack is located. For charitable bingo, one must be at least 19 to play legally although there's an exception for minors accompanied by a parent or guardian. The theoretical minimum age for casino gaming in Alabama is 19; however, all three tribal casinos in the state have set a higher age of 21 to be able to play.
The situation online is a lot less complex. Almost every online gaming provider accepts customers who are over the age of 18. As long as you're 18 or above, you can sign up and play.
Yes, you have to pay taxes in Alabama on your income from online poker just as you would from any other form of personal income. This is true at the federal level too. Both the Alabama Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service expect to receive their cut of whatever online poker winnings you collect.
We strongly advise you to maintain copious records of your online poker wins and losses because offshore sites won't perform this task for you. Then when it's time to file the necessary paperwork, you ought to comply with tax laws and pay whatever you owe. Should you require further assistance with the needed calculations, we urge you to consult with a CPA or qualified tax lawyer.
Yes, mobile poker for Alabama players is a reality in this day and age. Most online poker rooms, like Ignition, Bovada, BetOnline, and SB Poker, provide comprehensive mobile poker solutions that effectively mirror the experience you would have playing on a desktop, and their full range of poker games is available to players on tablets and phones. Other rooms, like Everygame and ACR Poker, host only limited mobile poker clients, which let you participate in a subset of the games that are available to play on a desktop. To access this functionality, you might have to download an app to your device, but at other sites, mobile poker is loadable directly from a website, and no separate app needs to be installed.
Pickings are slim for Alabama gambling, but you can find out more about them with these links:
We strive to maintain this information and update it frequently with our research. However, we are not immune to making mistakes or omitting information that you, dear reader, may find of use. If you have any further questions not addressed in this guide or have noted any discrepancies or inaccuracies we urge you to contact us with your questions and concerns so that we may swiftly address them!
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