Legal Florida online poker sites are virtually non-existent for now. The Sunshine State hosts a vibrant live poker scene (including some prestigious World Poker Tour events), but online poker options are very limited.
Florida poker players can still legally play online poker at sweepstakes poker sites, however. Sweepstakes gaming sites operate under a different legal status than traditional online gambling sites, awarding sweepstakes prizes to winners.
ClubWPT operates as the top legal sweepstakes poker platform available to Florida players. This guide takes a thorough look at ClubWPT, and examines the landscape of Florida online poker rooms in general.
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Best Florida Poker Site
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Is Online Poker Legal In Florida?
Flordia currently doesn’t permit full-scale real-money online poker sites to operate in the state.
Online sports betting is the only form of legal online gambling allowed in Florida, and even the status of that form of mobile gaming is pretty murky.
If regulated online poker ever does become a reality in Florida, the legalization process would likely involve some kind of agreement among state lawmakers, Florida residents, the Florida Gaming Control Commission, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which owns and operates virtually all gambling-related activities in Florida.
Sweepstakes poker sites are legal in Florida, and that form of online gaming gives Florida players the best legal option for playing online poker from within the state.
Is Online Poker Legal In The United States?
Each U.S. state can legalize online poker if it wishes. Federal laws allow states to dictate their own stance toward online gambling.
More than half of U.S. states offer some form of regulated online gambling. Online sports betting is legal in more than 30 states.
Online poker, however, is only legal in a handful of states. You can find regulated online poker sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and a couple of other states.
The U.S. was once home to a thriving online poker market. Poker exploded in mainstream popularity in the early 2000s, and U.S. players had access to the world’s biggest online poker sites throughout the decade.
Those sites operated in the U.S. illegally, however, and in 2011 federal authorities cracked down on their operations. The “poker boom” era of online poker suddenly came to an end on April 15, 2011, a day known as “Black Friday” in poker lore.
Online poker virtually disappeared from the U.S. landscape after Black Friday. The advent of sweepstakes poker sites reintroduced legal online poker in most U.S. states.
If lawmakers, voters, and tribal casinos in Florida regulate online poker, that process will likely take several years.
Best Florida Online Poker Sites
If you live in a state without regulated poker sites, sweepstakes gaming sites give you the best option for legally playing poker online. The top sweepstakes poker site available in Florida right now is ClubWPT.
ClubWPT doesn’t run real-money poker games in a traditional sense. The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT do award cash and prizes, however.
In addition to sweepstakes games, ClubWPT also offers one of the best online poker sites for free-to-play games that you’ll find in the United States. You can play these games (called Play Chips games) in formats like No-Limit Texas Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha,
The next part of this guide takes a thorough look at ClubWPT, including how it operates and what prizes it offers for Florida online poker players.
ClubWPT
ClubWPT is a sweepstakes gaming platform backed by the World Poker Tour. While regulated poker sites don’t currently operate in Florida, ClubWPT presents a great legal way to play poker online in the Sunshine State.
You can find free-to-play poker games at ClubWPT, as well as sweepstakes poker tournaments. The sweepstakes tournaments award cash and prizes to winners, including entries into live events on the World Poker Tour.
The free games at ClubWPT are available in all 50 U.S. states. The sweepstakes games are available in 36 U.S. states, and Florida is on that list.
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How Does ClubWPT Work?
Florida poker players can access ClubWPT’s sweepstakes games by purchasing a monthly subscription.
ClubWPT sweepstakes tournaments are separated into two tiers: VIP and Diamond. You can also purchase the Super SATurdays add-on subscription.
The tournaments include Texas Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Pot-Limit Omama Hi-Lo game formats.
The subscription tiers at ClubWPT are as follows:
- VIP ($27.95 per month, access to all VIP tournaments)
- Diamond ($149.95 per month, access to all Diamond and VIP tournaments)
- Super SATurdays ($100 add-on per month, access to Super SATurdays satellite tournaments)
VIP Tournaments
The lowest-priced subscription at ClubWPT is the VIP subscription. The VIP-level subscription gives you access to all VIP tournaments at ClubWPT.
VIP tournaments use Tournament Points (TP) as the buy-in currency. Tournaments in this tier award TP (so you can “buy in” to more VIP Tournaments), cash, and prizes to players that finish “in the money”.
You receive 500 TP when you sign up for a subscription, and your TP balance reloads each day.
A typical VIP tournament looks like this:
- Tournament Name: $1,000 Mountain
- Buy-In: 400TP
- Prize Pool: $1,000 USD + 202,500 TP Guaranteed
- First Place: $150 USD + 2,000 TP
The VIP tier also includes freeroll tournaments (aka zero TP buy-in tournaments) that award TP, cash, and prizes.
Diamond Tournaments
Diamond-level subscribers enjoy access to all Diamond tournaments, as well as all VIP tournaments.
Diamond tournaments award the largest and best prizes available at ClubWPT. The Diamond subscription offers the best overall value available among the sweepstakes subscription tiers.
Unlike VIP tournaments, Diamond tournaments, don’t require Tournament Points to buy in. If you’re a Diamond subscriber, you get unlimited access to Diamond tournaments, with no additional purchase or Tournament Points required.
Once you’ve paid the monthly subscription fee, Diamond tournaments operate as freerolls in a sense.
Like in the VIP tier, Diamond tournaments award cash and prizes to tournament winners. The cash amounts and prizes available are substantially larger than what’s awarded in VIP Tournaments, however.
For instance, the regularly occurring $5,000 Cash Guarantee tournament looks like this:
- Tournament Name: $5,000 Cash Guarantee
- Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers)
- Prize Pool: $5,000 USD + 541,000 TP Guaranteed
- First Place: $1,000 USD + 5,000 TP
You can also find many opportunities to win entry into a World Poker Tour live event as a Diamond subscriber. Many of the tournaments in the Diamond tier award cash and VIP Tournament Points.
World Poker Tour live event packages are among the top prizes you can win in Diamond tournaments.
For example, the following event awarded a WPT Prime Passport (travel package and entry fee for any WPT Prime tournament):
- Tournament Name: $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport + $500
- Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers)
- Prize Pool: $3,000 USD + 467,500 TP Guaranteed
- First Place: $2,500 WPT Prime Passport + 5,000 TP
Diamond subscribers get access to both the Diamond and the VIP tiers, and the TP earned in Diamond tournaments can be used in VIP tournaments.
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$125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge
One of the biggest events on the ClubWPT schedule is the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge. The details for this special tournament look like this:
- Tournament Name: $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge
- Buy-In: Entries must qualify through other ClubWPT events
- Prize Pool: $125,000 USD
- First Place: WPT Event Package $12,000
The first-place prize for this event is a $12,000 package that sends you to the annual WPT World Championship in Las Vegas.
A total of 400 players will compete in the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge. Those 400 players will all qualify through other tournaments on ClubWPT to get their spot
Most of the qualifiers allowing you to win your way into the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge are in the Diamond tier.
Is ClubWPT A Real Money Online Poker Site?
ClubWPT awards cash and prizes in its sweepstakes tournaments. ClubWPT does not, however, operate as a real-money online poker room in the classic sense.
Real-money online poker sites allow you to directly deposit money into your account. You then play cash games and/or tournaments where you directly buy in with money from your player balance.
You compete against your opponents for your money and their money at a traditional real-money poker site. Legal real-money poker sites can only operate in U.S. states that explicitly legalize and regulate online poker.
At ClubWPT, players pay a monthly subscription fee that grants access to online poker tournaments awarding cash and prizes. The cash and prizes available in these tournaments are awarded as sweepstakes prizes.
This format allows ClubWPT to operate as a sweepstakes gaming site, which falls under a different legal category than a real-money poker site. Keep reading for more on how sweepstakes poker sites operate.
How Do I Sign Up At ClubWPT?
You can sign up for a ClubWPT account from anywhere in the U.S. You can only play the sweepstakes games for cash and prizes if you’re in one of 36 eligible states however.
Florida is on the list of states that allow access to the sweepstakes games at ClubWPT.
Here’s how Florida poker players can sign up for a ClubWPT account:
- Click the sign-up link in any of the ClubWPT ads in this article.
- Click the green “Sign-Up” button at the top right of the ClubWPT home page
- Enter a valid email, choose a username and password, and click “Continue”
- Enter your name, DoB, and physical address, and choose a security question and answer.
- On the next screen, choose your subscription and your payment method.
The Play Chips games and tournaments are open to all U.S. players, without a subscription required.
To play the VIP and Diamond tournaments, you must sign up for a monthly subscription package and must be located in one of the 36 eligible states when you play.
If you’re located in Florida, you’re in luck, as the ClubWPT sweepstakes games are accessible to you (as long as you’re physically in Florida while you play).
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How Do Sweepstakes Poker Sites Work?
Sweepstakes gaming sites operate under a different legal designation than real-money gambling sites.
All of the prizes awarded at ClubWPT are awarded as sweepstakes prizes. The monthly subscription fee allows access to the sweepstakes tournaments.
You can’t deposit money or directly play poker for cash on ClubWPT. The cash and prizes awarded in the sweepstakes tournaments are substantial, however.
ClubWPT awards more than $100,000 in cash and prizes each month. The flagship tournament at ClubWPT, the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge, awards $125,000 in total cash and prizes.
The grand prize for the WPT World Championship Challenge comes in the form of a $12,000 WPT Event Package, which sends the winner to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
2023 WPT World Championship winner Daniel Sepiol won $5,282,954 for his first-place finish in the tournament. Win your way to the WPT World Championship through a ClubWPT qualifier, and that could be you!
Is It Safe To Play At Offshore Poker Sites?
If you’ve looked for a legal real-money Florida poker site, you might have come across a few sites appearing to offer legit online poker games for real money.
These sites try to come off as legal, regulated, and approved by Florida online poker laws. Make no mistake about it though – any online poker site offering full-scale real-money poker games in Florida is operating illegally.
Consider the following reasons that you should avoid playing at these illegal/offshore online gambling sites:
Offshore Poker Sites Conduct Illegal Financial Transactions
The deposit methods at an offshore poker site are often quite limited, and there are several reasons for that.
If you do manage to deposit using your bank account or a credit/debit card, that deposit will usually show up on your bank statement as a purchase from an online store you’ve never heard of. The deposit doesn’t show up as what it really is (a deposit to an online gambling site), and instead appears on your statement as something you purchased from an online retailer in a foreign country.
Many offshore sites heavily promote deposits and withdrawals that use cryptocurrency. When a poker site discourages transactions involving USD, that’s generally not a good sign.
When you purchase a subscription at ClubWPT, that transaction will clearly appear on your bank statement as a purchase from ClubWPT.
Your Money And Personal Information Isn’t Secure At Offshore Poker Sites
ClubWPT, and any product backed by the World Poker Tour, operates with a keen interest in protecting your money, financial information, and personal information.
If you give your bank account or debit/credit card number to an offshore poker site, there’s no telling where that information might end up.
If you attempt to withdraw from an offshore poker site, you’re requesting money from an illegal operation with no obligation to send your funds under U.S. laws. If you end up on the wrong side of a denied withdrawal, you have no legal recourse to file a complaint and claim your money.
Offshore poker sites operate illegally, and any time you deposit at such a site, that could be the last time you see those funds.
Player Security Is Questionable At Offshore Poker Sites
Many offshore poker sites are rife with bots (i.e. computer programs that imitate poker players), collusion, multi-accounting (players operating multiple screen names at the same time), and ghosting (players controlling other players’ accounts).
The games at offshore poker sites are often infested with illegal and unethical activity. Offshore sites don’t have much incentive to implement the security measures needed to find and punish bad actors.
Offshore online poker sites have one goal – taking deposits from players. You can’t expect much player security once they have your money.
Florida Online Poker Sites FAQ
Can I legally play online poker in Florida?
Yes. ClubWPT operates as a sweepstakes poker site, legal in 36 states (including Florida). While ClubWPT doesn’t offer real-money poker games in the traditional sense, it does offer sweepstakes poker tournaments that award cash and prizes.
The prizes up for grabs in ClubWPT’s sweepstakes tournaments include cash and prizes such as WPT live event entry packages.
Can I play WPT Global in Florida?
No. WPT Global is one of the world’s top online poker rooms, available in more than 100 countries worldwide. WPT Global isn’t legal in the U.S. at this time, however.
ClubWPT offers the best online poker site available in Florida.
Is online poker legal in any state?
Yes, but the availability of legal online poker varies by state.
States like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan allow full-scale, regulated poker sites to operate within those states. You must be physically located within one of those states while you play, or else you can’t access those state-specific sites.
Sweepstakes poker sites operate legally in more than 30 states, including Florida. ClubWPT is the best sweepstakes poker site currently available in the Sunshine State.
Is ClubWPT legal in Florida?
Yes. You can purchase a monthly subscription and play the sweepstakes games at ClubWPT legally from Florida.
Are offshore poker sites legal?
No. Offshore sites (ie any site offering real-money poker games in Florida) operate illegally in the United States. You should avoid offshore poker sites, as your money and personal information aren’t safe on those sites.
Best Florida Poker Site
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There is no purchase necessary to play on ClubWPT. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For more information regarding events, including how to qualify and location eligibility, visit ClubWPT.com
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