Is Online Bingo Legal in the United States?

The internet revolution changed the way we did many things as Americans. We started shopping for items online in order to have them delivered to us, we started communicating through email and instant messenger and we began gaming through the internet.

What started out as an opportunity to play chess with a friend hundreds of miles away blossomed and evolved into an entirely new way for people to connect through games. Eventually, and predictably, games of chance entered the equation. Poker, blackjack and online bingo became popular. With them came a wave of government response to regulate and control the flow of gambling across the internet. Congress passed a variety of laws to control the industry as much as it could. In this article we will focus on how these laws apply specifically to bingo, although many of the laws we will discuss can be applied to multiple games on the internet.

The simple answer is that it is legal to play online bingo and to win the prizes on a federal level. Individual states have held the authority to allow, forbid or restrict gambling for hundreds of years now. Individual states will vary and some have place specific bans on internet gaming. If you live in Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, or Wisconsin; I’m sorry to say that your state has passed such legislation and you cannot play bingo online for cash prizes. If you live in another state, then you should read on to see what other laws may restrict your right to play.

In 2006, Congress wanted to restrict internet gaming, but could not do so directly. Instead they passed a law restricting banks from completing transfers to or from internet gaming accounts. The thinking being simply that if you could not put money onto the table, then you could not play.

You will note that it does not make it illegal for any individual to put money into a gambling account, just the banks. Additionally, as it only applies to United States banks, international banks or hold companies could still conduct the transaction. So that is what people began to do.

In 2007, Congress passed additional legislation to regulate games of skill like chess or checkers, making them illegal to bet on. However, bingo is a game of chance and is exempt from this coverage.

The final result is that online bingo is legal to play, but due to government restrictions, may be difficult to wager on. However, for those who wish to do so, the games go on. Just keep in mind that yelling BINGO! at your computer is not an effective way of claiming a win.