Poker in New York: live poker rooms, online sites and the law

Where to play live poker in New York

Live poker is legal in New York’s casinos, run by Native American nations under compacts with the state and by commercial operators licensed by the New York State Gaming Commission. All of the poker rooms are upstate.

Region	Casino poker rooms (city)
Central New York	Turning Stone Resort Casino (Verona), run by the Oneida Indian Nation
Capital Region and Finger Lakes	Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady (Schenectady) · del Lago Resort & Casino (Waterloo)
Western New York	Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino (Niagara Falls) · Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino (Salamanca)
Catskills	Resorts World Catskills (Monticello)

The biggest rooms. According to DeucesCracked, Turning Stone has the largest room in the state, with about 32 tables, followed by Rivers Casino Schenectady, with about 28.

New York City. The city has no live poker room: Resorts World New York City, in Queens, has electronic table games only. Many city players head to Atlantic City or to Foxwoods, in Connecticut.

Hours, games and the minimum age vary by casino. Check with the room before you go.

How online poker works in New York

No state-licensed site. New York allows poker in its licensed casinos and has had legal mobile sports betting since January 2022, but it has never licensed an online poker site. The State Senate passed online poker bills in 2016 and 2017, and the Assembly never approved them. The current bill, S2614, would license online poker and casino games; it stayed in committee in 2026 and the session ended without a vote.

What the law says about players. Article 225 of the Penal Law punishes people who promote gambling: those who run a game, take a cut or otherwise help it operate. It defines a player as someone who only bets, and players are not the ones charged. In 2007, the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that a player could not be charged with promoting gambling just for playing (Matter of Victor M.). Federal law (UIGEA, 2006) restricts how banks process gambling payments and does not criminalize players either.

What that means for you. International rooms that accept New York players are not licensed by the state, so New York consumer protections do not apply. Choose rooms with a long track record and keep only what you are playing with on the site. See the overview for the whole country in our US online poker guide.

Which partner rooms accept New York players

Three of our US-facing rooms with rakeback accept New York:

• ACR Poker: the biggest guaranteed tournaments open to US players (the Venom, the OSS), a 100% bonus up to $2,000 and 35% rakeback.
• BetOnline Poker: on the Chico network, with a crypto-friendly cashier and 33% rakeback. New Jersey is the only state it does not accept.
• CoinPoker: crypto-only, tables in USDT, HUDs allowed and 30% rakeback every week.

Ignition Poker, our 40% deal, does not accept New York, along with Delaware, Maryland, Nevada and New Jersey. The ranked list at the top of this page is sorted by the rakeback you get through RakebackPokerWorld. To see how much comes back with your own monthly rake, use the rakeback calculator.

Deposits and withdrawals from New York

US banks often block card payments to gambling sites, so crypto is the most reliable way to move money in and out of international rooms:

1. Buy Bitcoin or USDT on an exchange that serves New York residents. New York licenses crypto companies under its BitLicense, so some exchanges available in other states are not open to New Yorkers.
2. Copy the deposit address from the room’s cashier and send it, checking the network the cashier indicates.
3. To cash out, request a crypto withdrawal and sell on the exchange. Crypto payouts usually arrive within hours.

Start with a small test amount. With USDT, your balance follows the dollar instead of moving with the Bitcoin price. The step by step is in how to deposit and withdraw Bitcoin at poker sites.

Taxes

Gambling winnings are taxable income under federal law, and New York residents also report them on the state return, plus the city tax if you live in New York City or Yonkers. Keep records of your deposits, withdrawals and results, and talk to a tax professional about your situation.