Is Online Poker in South Dakota Legal?

South Dakota, home to the beautiful Black Hills and the world famous ‘Mount Rushmore’. The majority of the state is dominated by green land and a couple of forests. In short, it is a fantastic place to go and visit. What started out as a great area for agriculture has dwindled as of late and the majority of people now live in the major cities of the state. For gamblers, this is one of the worst places to visit as they have some of the strictest laws related to gambling in the country. Let’s take a little look.

Gambling Laws

The legislation related to gambling can be found in this section:

Section 22-25-1
Any person who engages in gambling in any form with cards, dice, or other implements or devices of any kind wherein anything valuable is wagered upon the outcome, or who keeps any establishment, place, equipment, or apparatus for such gambling or any agents or employees for such purpose, or any person who knowingly lets any establishment, structure, place, equipment, or apparatus for such gambling is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. [1]

In short, gambling covers a lot of bases here! However, it is worth noting that nobody has been charged with gambling related offences over the past couple of years, so it could indicate that the law enforcers here don’t seem to worry too much about enforcing the law.

Remember, only unregulated gambling is illegal in the state. There are a number of licensed commercial casinos that operate, a state lottery, and horse race betting allowed. Some casinos have a maximum bet that you allowed to place on each hand.

Both players and operators of unregulated gambling operations are subject to legal action, and this means that it should be avoided if possible.

Casinos and Live Poker

This is where the law starts to cause problems and become very strict. Firstly, social gambling is illegal, it has been made clear that it is illegal numerous times and anybody that is caught gambling in their own home, whether a profit is made or not, could be subject to the law. Although as I said this isn”t something that has been enforced in recent years.

Now, card games are illegal in South Dakota. This means poker. That means it can only be played in licensed commercial casinos and tribal operations. It is not allowed as a form of charity gambling, although some games are allowed to be played in a charitable environment.

Online Poker

South Dakota is one of the few states which has laws against online gambling. It is illegal to run any sort of online gambling business in the state, even if no bets are accepted from residents. The penalties are particularly harsh too, every single stake made on the site is treated as a felony, which means that the jail time can quickly add up, as well as the fines. It is believed in the next few years there will be a crack down on this. Players shouldn’t have any issues.

Nobody in government is currently standing for online gambling allowed in the state, and thus it is unlikely that it will be legalized any time soon.

South Dakota Bitcoin Poker Sites