Many online poker rooms hold special tournaments for college students where they give away scholarship prizes. Are those tournaments legal?
The American law is still ambiguous about the legality of online gambling. The 1961 Interstate Wire Act bans sports betting via phone or wire, but it does not refer to playing online poker. According to the U.S. Justice Department, all forms of online gambling are illegal. Even though many states ruled against gambling, the rules are hardly imposed against individual gamblers.
In order to participate in the online poker tournaments for students, the participants do not have to bet. The players gather points according to the number of hands they had played. It is one of the poker rooms ways to expand the number of their loyal players.
