Despite being a self-governing and unincorporated territory of the United States, the legality of gambling and poker can enter some grey areas within Puerto Rico. Is it possible to play poker at a venue here or access the best US poker sites through online and mobile play?
In-person poker isn’t made for profit
The capital city of Puerto Rico is San Juan. There, you can find …three casinos. These are the only live venues where you can legally play poker in person. The stakes at these places are very low compared to US cardrooms. $1 hands, maybe $2 on a good hand, there’s very little money to be won here.
Major online poker sites operate in Puerto Rico
Given that Puerto Rico doesn’t have the same dogmatic US influence on gambling laws, the major poker sites can operate in the area without too much strife. BetOnline Poker and Ignition Poker, which aren’t available nationwide in the States, can be accessed in Puerto Rico!
Legality of online poker in Puerto Rico
So, if the significant sites operate here, does that mean playing online poker in Puerto Rico is legal? It’s another grey area. No specific law mentions it, meaning no legislation outlaws or permits it. The only law about poker states that any player must be 18 years or older to play poker. The consensus is that it is allowed – and even if players access offshore sites, they are not breaking any laws.
Who do Puerto Rican poker fans look up to?
Puerto Rico doesn’t have a massive poker lineage. However, two players have won over a million US dollars from the game. Victor Figueroa and Luis Vazquez lead the all-time poker winnings for Puerto Rican players. While not the most lavishly blessed winnings (compared to the broader world of poker players), these guys will serve as a decent target to strive towards.
Poker escape room experience?
Like any destination trying to appeal to tourists and locals with disposable income, San Juan has some entertainment outlets in the guise of an escape room. One of these facilities offers ‘the Sapphire Room’ experience. From the description, the players are thrown into the underworld of illegal poker rings in Puerto Rico, needing to escape a room, etc. Intriguing, right?
Popular variations of poker in Puerto Rico
While Texas Hold’em is the defacto poker variation worldwide, the alternative versions vary in popularity in different places. In Puerto Rico, a few versions are often played, including Caribbean Stud Poker, where players play the house rather than each other. Omaha Hi and Seven-Card Stud are ubiquitous and take up a few tables in many Puerto Rican casinos.
World Poker Tour visited Puerto Rico in 2015
If the World Poker Tour visits a place, it tends to bring attention to the destination and put poker under the local spotlight. The WPT organized a Caribbean Cruise in 2015, a series of poker events in the region. Puerto Rico hosted a few key events of the tour, but unfortunately, the WPT has not returned to Puerto Rico since.
Latin American Poker Tour voided Puerto Rico…
The World Poker Tour, by its name, must visit all areas of the planet. So, if there were a tour or circuit that would lend itself to Puerto Rico, it would be the Latin American Poker Tour. The LAPT, however, never visited the country!
This would suggest that the Puerto Rican market is undesirable for poker tournaments, as they see no value in going there. The problem is that without poker’s visibility, the pastime will not grow, indeed creating a vicious cycle which poker finds it increasingly difficult to enter the Puerto Rican mainstream.
Poker is preferred to many other gambling activities
Poker popularity is buoyed in Puerto Rico as it doesn’t have as bad a reputation as other gambling activities in the nation. For example, slot machines have an abysmal participation rate because they are embroiled in scandals and fixed outcomes. In 2022, the gambling regulator recovered over 200 illegal slot machines. That said, poker is still seen as a minority pastime in Puerto Rico.
Peaked with the boom
Google Trends’ search history suggests that Puerto Rico was fascinated with poker in the early 2000s, much like the United States during the original online poker boom. However, like the US, by 2010, many people lost interest or could not access online poker platforms after Black Friday.
