OK I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible as there is a lot to cover. For those who get bored of reading quickly, scan down for a resumeé of those online casinos who offer the best solution for US residents or view a list of online casinos listed by US State.
But first a bit of background. In October 2006, the US passed the UIGEA, an Act designed not to ban online gambling, but to make it difficult for US residents to deposit and withdraw. It has had limited success in achieving it’s goals…the banks are not big fans because of the fact they are now responsible for checking every transaction. In a nutshell, the law turned out to do exactly the opposite of what its protractors claimed- to “protect family values“. Clearly designed to capture the votes from the moral crusaders for a presidential campaign that floundered, it’s unfortunately backfired. I’ll explain:
What the law did manage to do was to remove many of the best online casinos from US shores - many felt the message was clear and pulled out to avoid conflict with US government and the Feds - and left the way clear for a lot of dodgy casinos to enter the market. Consequently, the US public is now on far flimsier turf than before, with a number of online casinos being no more than rip-off merchants. Big bonuses, easy deposit methods, lots of gimmicks designed to get you to deposit. But then of course, there is always a reason why they can’t pay out when you win. We saw it years back, the industry largely sorted itself out, but now the UIGEA has put it back 5 years.
As a result, you need to be careful when you choose online casinos to play. Because deposit and cashout options are limited, don’t be tempted to play any old casino because it looks easy. When the UIGEA gets reversed out of law - which it will have to on common sense grounds - and regulation is put in place, life will be much safer.
The online casinos on this page are a subset of the good, safe and reputable casinos left for US players and there are a few more reviews on the online casino reviews page. Assuming you don’t abuse bonuses, and you use a sensible deposit option such as Quicktender, you should have few problems cashing out. I have ordered them in the order that I would choose to play them, and believe me when I say I have been around!!
Jackpot City, Lucky Nugget and River Belle. Each of these 3 online casinos are operated by the Belle Rock Entertainment group. They accept players from all States except Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. They all use the excellent Microgaming software, and accept Quicktender.
Club USA, [Bodog] and [iNetBet]. These use RTG (Realtime Gaming) software and accept punters from all US States. The games choice is less than the Microgaming casinos listed above, but banking options are more varied and payouts at iNetBet and Club USA generally quicker.