Online Poker in Oregon – Is It Legal?
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Scott Kacsmar
- August 25, 2024
Oregon is a friendly gambling state with legal sports betting and horse racing, but even the most friendly gambling states are still behind the times when it comes to legalizing online poker, table games, slots, as well as other games found at online casinos.
However, if you want to play online poker games for real money in Oregon, you just have to join one of the top Oregon online betting sites with cash games and tournaments. Some sites only have video poker, but in this guide, we will show you the recommended poker sites with all the game types, bonuses, and payment methods you need for the best online poker experience.
We also look at what makes an online poker site a good one to use, how to join one, and what your choices are for land-based card rooms in Oregon.
| SPORTSBOOK | TRUST SCORE | ONLINE SINCE | Expert Review | BONUS | Bet Now |
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2001
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$250 Free Bet
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2011
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$750 Cash Bonus
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2002
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100% Free Play
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1996
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$500 Cash Bonus
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The Best Online Poker Sites
Online poker sites can be tricky since only a select number have a legitimate poker room. But we have found our top 4 online poker sites that have poker to go along with their sports betting and other online casino options. All these sites are in Costa Rica or Antigua where online gambling is legal. These sites will all accept Oregon users today:
- Bovada – Great for tournament poker
- BetOnline – Several poker cash games available
- Everygame – Outstanding poker software
- SportsBetting.ag – High-traffic network
Can you legally play poker online in Oregon?
No, Oregon is like most states in that it has not passed any gaming laws to legalize online poker or any other online casino games like video slots, blackjack, and roulette. To play those table games or poker, you will have to visit the commercial casinos and card rooms in the state. Playing a poker game at home is also fine as long as no one is charging a fee to host the game or an entry fee.
But for those Oregon players who want to play online poker to win cash prizes, you will have to visit the offshore casinos we are about to review in more detail below. These offshore sites are not regulated by any U.S. territory, but they are operating legally under the laws of their jurisdiction.
You can feel free to join these sites today in Oregon.
Comparison of the Top Oregon Online Poker Sites
We have reviewed our top four, which all feature a poker room with downloadable software to play in cash games and tournaments. Do note that these sites will all have tournament fees to pay to enter, and you will also find an online sportsbook, slot machines, table games, and other online casino games where you can win real money online. Below are our detailed reviews on the best online poker sites to use in Oregon.
1. Most Suitable for Poker Tournaments: Bovada
Key Features
- No. 1 poker network for Americans
- Nice welcome bonus for poker players
Bovada is famous for being more than just an online sportsbook. The poker platform is fueled by the PaiWangLuo Poker Network, the No. 1 site in traffic ranking for American poker players.
You can expect daily tournaments and weekly tournaments with big cash prizes here. The top tournament is each Sunday with $150K Guaranteed, and there is a Jackpot Sit & Go tournament that pays $120,000. There is free poker software to download if you want to play on your mobile device. There are also plenty of cash games to sharpen your skills with Texas Hold’em and Omaha both heavily featured.
A huge advantage at Bovada is the ability to play anonymously at tables, something you will not find available in our other options. In this incognito mode, you can keep your strategy to yourself and not allow your opponents to get a read by recognizing you.
Bovada also offers video poker in the casino where you will find other slots, table games, Keno, and a numbers game. Their sportsbook is also one of the best around with our favorite prop builder.
The welcome bonus for new poker players is a 100% deposit match worth up to a $500 bonus. Plus, there are frequently new promo codes at Bovada that players can take advantage of.
2. Several Poker Cash Games Available: BetOnline
Key Features
- Generous sign-up bonuses
- Windfall Sit & Go and Sunday Majors tournaments
The closest thing to Bovada’s online poker experience is what you will find at BetOnline. Joining Tiger Gaming and SportsBetting, it makes use of the Chico Poker Network, which ranks third among traffic of poker players in America.
BetOnline has daily tournaments, the Sunday Majors, progressive bounties, and Windfall Sit & Go tournaments. You can suggest your own tournament idea too. They also have plenty of cash games to play after you download the free poker software. You always have high limits at BetOnline, so there are games for higher rollers and there are games for beginners as well. They have bad beat jackpots where everyone at the table can win some money under certain conditions.
The BetOnline casino has many different games, including hundreds of unique slots, and a strong selection of video poker variants and table games. You can play Three-card Poker, Caribbean Poker, Oasis Poker, Tri Card Poker, Let It Ride, Triple Edge Poker, Pai Gow Poker, etc. You can also hop on the live casino with live dealer games (blackjack, roulette, baccarat).
For new poker players, you can get a 100% deposit match up to $1,000 by using BetOnline promo codes. With poker bonuses, you will release $5 off your bonus every time you earn $50 in rake by playing poker at BetOnline.
3. Outstanding Poker Software: Everygame
Key Features
- Boasts the best rakeback rate (36%)
- Excellent design and user interface
Long known as Intertops, Everygame has been rebranded with a great-looking site for poker and casino players. Just download the poker software to find daily tournaments and cash games. The casino also has slots, video poker and table games with great sound and graphics. You can also test games out for free first.
You will not see as many players at Everygame’s poker room like you would with a more popular Bovada or BetOnline, so this does mean the cash prizes will be smaller at Everygame. But you could sharpen your skills here and get better at tournament play against fewer players. You can expect Texas Hold’em and Omaha to be available.
Online poker sites work by the player paying a fee to get in a game, then the casino pays the player back in rakeback rate. Everygame boasts the best rakeback rate in the market at 36%. When you do get that bonus money in your account, Everygame does a good job of allowing you more days (90 days) to use those bonus funds before they expire from your account. In addition to the welcome bonus and rakeback program, there are a wide variety of promo codes at Everygame that can provide even more bonus funds.
With a solid sportsbook too, Everygame is a nice addition to the online gambling market.
4. High-Traffic Network: SportsBetting.ag
Key Features
- Uses same poker network as BetOnline
- Solid choices of cash games and tournaments
The Chico Poker Network is the No. 3 ranked poker network regarding traffic from American players. It consists of the aforementioned BetOnline, our No. 2 poker site, and SportsBetting is its sister site. They use the same poker network, so you can find a similar lineup of poker tournaments and cash games using familiar software. Bad beat jackpots are also featured here as do the sports promos and contests.
You get speedy payouts and high limits when using the BetOnline and SportsBetting model for internet gambling. The casino options are also very good with hundreds of online slots, though no demo versions are available to try for free.
With a dozen table games and a combination of slots available, this is one of your best overall casino choices for a site with a poker room. You will also be able to do much wagering on college sports here with online sports betting at the site named for it.
Our Rating Methodology
We will get into our rating methodology in detail below, but when it comes to the best poker rooms at offshore casinos, we look for a variety of poker games available, good bonuses for new and existing users, a quality interface and mobile experience, diverse payment methods, good customer service, and a site with a proven track record in the gambling industry of paying winners on time.
History of Oregon’s Gambling Laws
With the history of gambling in The Beaver State, we see the potential for a bright future for legal online poker and casino games. These things just take time, but the wheels are starting to move along again. Consider that it was from 1933 when Oregon legalized horse race betting to 1971 before charitable gambling was allowed. The regulatory body of the racing market has been the Oregon Racing Commission for the last 90 years.
Once charitable gaming was allowed in the early 1970s, we quickly saw a move to authorize social gaming at clubs and businesses in 1973, an amendment to allow charitable bingo and raffles in 1976, and by 1984, a state lottery was introduced.
Thanks to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in the late 1980s, tribal casinos were allowed to open throughout the country. The Cow Creek Tribe opened the first tribal casino in Oregon in 1994. By 1997, Oregon was one of the first states to adopt legal online wagering for horse racing.
In 2005, charitable games of Texas Hold’em were first allowed. Around 2007, licensed poker rooms started opening throughout Oregon. There was a bill in 2012 to allow commercial casinos to be constructed off tribal land, but 70% of voters decline those bills.
Things then started to heat up in the broader sports betting industry after PASPA was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018. In 2019, Oregon sports betting went live after being passed into law. Oregon citizens could bet in person or using an online app, but the app would not offer any betting on college sports. By 2022, DraftKings became the only licensed online sportsbook in the state. DraftKings expects to launch its own racebook (DK HORSE) in 2023.
There are no bills to legalize online poker in the system, but things could be changing as the state moves forward with tribal casinos, a lottery, poker rooms, legal sports betting, and horse racing.
Special Features of the Top Online Poker Sites
In the following sections, we are going through the special features that sort the best online sites apart from one another. Internet gambling is a very competitive market, but excelling in these areas is how these sites can get the highest grades possible.
Gambling Odds
When it comes to the sportsbook, we like to see a site with competitive odds, including reduced juice that provides better lines than the standard -110. In the poker room, we expect to see tournaments with varied entry fees for players of all experience levels to enjoy.
Betting Markets
No matter which forms of gambling you are doing, you want to see a wide variety of betting markets or else you will have to find another site to play what you crave. With an online casino that offers poker, we expect to see a variety of tournaments, cash games, video poker machines and different styles of poker (Omaha, Texas Hold’em, different limits, etc.)
Deposit & Withdrawal Methods
In today’s online world, people want to see a diverse group of payment methods. Not everyone wants to use their debit card on an online gambling site, so we like to also see crypto options available like Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. We should get speedy payouts to our eWallets too. Basically, anything is faster than a check these days, but we also make a note of the fees and limits (high and low) associated with each of the payment methods at these sites.
Promotions & Bonuses
A great way to join a site is with a welcome bonus that gives you the most bonus money for your initial deposit with a deposit match. This is always a great way to get started on an online gambling site, but it is the ongoing promos for existing users that also are worthwhile. This could be bonus bets, enhanced odds markets, free spins, double points on select games for the loyalty program or a refer-a-friend program.
But every online casino should have a good loyalty program or VIP program where you can accumulate points the more you spend and gamble on the site. Those points are then redeemed for other perks like bonus bets or poker tournament entries at a site like Bovada.
Live Dealers
The best online casinos will now offer live dealer games, especially for the table games like blackjack and roulette. There is just something more believable about playing a game with a real person drawing real cards or spinning a real ball on a wheel. Electronic games like online slots have randomized outcomes, and these sites would get in trouble if anyone ever found them doing something unsavory in the code, but you cannot go wrong with seeing a live dealer in charge of your games via video chat. It adds a lot to the experience.
User Experience
A quality user experience would involve having a site with good software, easy-to-find what we are looking for, and a variety of poker games to choose from. We also need to be able to fund our account in a hurry, and requesting withdrawals should be just as simple when it comes time to collect our winnings.
The mobile site needs to be easily readable on a smaller screen since many of us are now accessing these online casino sites with our smartphones or tablet. The mobile site should look sharp graphically and have a good sound to mimic a casino experience. The poker software should be easy to use to find the tournaments and cash games we want to play.
Customer Support
The best in customer support will offer 24/7 availability with a diverse set of contact options. You should be able to send an email, call a phone number to speak to someone, send a message through the website, or a live chat feature to get instant help.
Security Features
Poker players want to win real money online, but to do that, you will have to share some personal and financial info with these casino operators. Since they are offshore, you may feel like you lose a sense of protection if something goes wrong with a data breach. But that is why we only choose the most trustworthy sites with a long track record in this business. We trust them to protect our user data and have the latest security features to make sure our connections are secure.
Land-Based Poker Rooms in Oregon
Online poker is not for everyone, so maybe you need to know where you can find land-based poker clubs in Oregon.
Fortunately, you have options with many of the tribal casinos located on tribal lands offering a poker room, table games, and video poker games on their casino floor. There are also private poker rooms and clubs throughout the state.
Here are some of the best choices for land-based casinos and poker rooms in Oregon:
- Spirit Mountain Casino: Tribal casino in Grand Ronde
- Chinook Winds Casino: Tribal casino in Lincoln City
- Wildhorse Resort & Casino: Tribal casino in Pendleton
- Seven Feathers Casino Resort: Tribal casino in Canyonville
- Beach Poker Club: Card room in Eugene
- Final Table Poker Club: Card room in Portland
- Full House Poker: Card room in Eugene
You can also find social games in Oregon. A popular social poker game has been Texas Hold’em since it was allowed to be played as charitable gaming in Oregon starting in 2005.
Casual poker is always an option too. Simply find some friends or family and have casual games of poker in your private residence. Just remember to not charge a fee for entry or to promote it online to invite random players.
Advantages of Playing Online Poker in Oregon
When it comes to playing online poker or any online casino games, there are certain advantages you have over having to play them in person. The following sections look at the advantages of online play.
Accessibility
Play when you want, where you want, and for how long you want. With online poker, there are always cash games and tournaments available. Many of the big tournaments will have a scheduled start time just like a real poker room, but there are tournaments that will start once enough players fill up a table.
This is a big advantage over traveling to a poker room that only has certain hours of operation during the week. Play on your time with online poker rooms.
Better Bonuses
By playing at online casinos, you get more bonus money than you would at any land-based casino or gambling establishment. You can get a big welcome bonus, or you can get ongoing promos. Poker players will usually release their sign-up bonus in $5 increments by earning $50 in rake for playing poker games online. You also can enjoy free spins, bonus bets, enhanced odds on the sportsbook, and all the other loyalty points you can earn by continuously playing at an online casino site.
More Convenience
If you want to play online poker at 3 AM wearing only your underwear you haven’t changed in three days, you can do that. Good luck getting into a poker room (or anywhere) in that condition. You also get to save on gas money and travel time. It is just more convenient to play online poker than go to a card room.
Speed
The speed of the game can be much quicker and more rhythmic than playing in person. You can also play in multiple tournaments at the same time, so you can jump from game to game. At a card room, you are limited to your game’s table.
Poker Variations
A card room is unlikely to offer the full complement of poker games found at a good online casino. You can enter a variety of tournaments and cash games with different poker styles available, or you can play Pai Gow Poker, Three-card poker and Caribbean Poker. Try a variety of video poker variants as well.
Creating an Account at an Oregon Poker Site
If you want to do online betting at an Oregon poker site, you will have to create your account. This process is always simple and quick no matter which online gambling site you choose to join. We walk you through the process in this section.
Step 1. Sign-Up
Head to the site you wish to join and begin creating your account like you would at any other site. Create a good password for your account that you will not share with anyone else.
Step 2. Verify Your Details
Your account needs to be verified. Be sure to enter accurate information, including your name, address, email address, and phone number you can be reached at. You may have to click on an account confirmation link in an email or enter a code from a text to verify your account in the system.
Step 3. Deposit Your Funds
Your account needs money in it to get started playing poker. Before you make that first deposit, be sure to read about any welcome bonus for new users, because that bonus amount will hinge on the size of your first deposit usually. Once ready, make your first deposit after choosing the deposit method that works best for you.
Step 4. Enjoy Playing Poker Online
Now your account is funded and ready to go play poker. You will usually have to download poker software at sites like Bovada, BetOnline, and Everygame before you can start playing. This software is free, and it is a quick, easy setup too. Once set up, enjoy playing online poker in Oregon.
Tips for Playing at Oregon Poker Sites
Here are some tips for those just getting started with online poker in Oregon at our recommended poker sites:
Budget, budget, budget. Do not bet more than you can afford to lose.
Understand poker has high variance. There will be winning streaks, there will be losing streaks, and both will come to an end in due time. Do not chase losses and learn when to call it a night.
There are many different styles of poker games available, and Texas Hold’em or Omaha may not be your favorite. Find your favorite style and spend all your time playing that one.
Tournaments can take a long time to complete, so be sure to have some time available to do them.
Cash games are more difficult than tournaments, but your winnings will be more consistent, and they will sharpen your play to make you better at tournaments.
Research the odds of certain hands winning so that your decisions are consistently informed by math.
FAQs – Playing Online Poker in Oregon State
Are poker rooms legal in Oregon?
Yes, Oregon poker rooms are legal because they are considered to host a game of skill rather than chance. The house also cannot take a cut from the game and these card rooms are licensed by the state to operate legally.
Can you legally gamble online in Oregon?
Yes, to an extent. Legal forms of online gambling in Oregon include in-person and online sports betting, online horse betting and betting at tracks, as well as DFS. There are no locally-regulated options for poker or casino gaming, though residents can still with our recommended poker sites for those activities.
Can I play FanDuel in Oregon?
FanDuel is available for daily fantasy sports; however, you can not use FanDuel Sportsbook or use the site to access any other types of gambling.
Can I use Bovada in Oregon?
Yes, the only states not allowing Bovada are New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Maryland and Delaware. You can use Bovada in Oregon to play poker, bet on the racebook, play casino games and bet on a wide variety of sports leagues.
What gambling apps are legal in Oregon?
Offshore poker sites usually do not offer a native app that users can download. However, players still have the chance to enjoy real money poker games and other casino-style gambling using their mobile browsers because offshore sites are optimized for use on any device.
