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What Is An Online Poker Site Alternative Link Or Mirror Site?
Online poker sites face a lot of scrutiny around the world. In some countries, they are regulated and controlled, while others are unregulated and uncontrolled. Some countries outright ban poker sites from being accessed by people within their country. For this reason, online poker players around the world sometimes have problems gaining access to poker sites. So, they aren’t able to register and login to play poker games online. This is where alternative links and poker mirror sites come in.
An alternative link is a URL that points to a mirror website of the poker site. Mirror sites are exact replicas of the original poker site, or in some cases, they are exactly the same except the link address is different. Since this alternative link and mirror site is not blocked by an ISP or a local authority it allows online poker players to access the website, without being restricted.
Online Poker Rooms Ratings And Their Bonuses
Online poker rooms can be rated by their bonuses and freerolls that they offer. Bonuses help you maximise your bankroll. This means you get more for every dollar that you deposit into your account. In turn, it increases the number of bets you can place and the number of blinds you see over the long term. So, you can continue playing poker for longer. Freerolls are a way to build up your bankroll if you don’t want to deposit money. (or you don’t have much money to start with). You get free entry into a poker tournament (usually multi-table) and compete against other players to win a real money prize. If you’re any good at poker, this will be a way to build your bankroll from essentially nothing. Some of the best poker sites that offer great bonuses and deposit bonuses include 888 Poker, Tiger gaming, and Pokerstars.
Countries With Restrictions To Poker Rooms
Why Countries Blocked Access To Poker Rooms?
There are many reasons why certain countries ban online poker rooms. First, is for tax reasons. Since online poker rooms are typically located offshore they are outside the jurisdiction of the country’s laws and regulations. This means that they don’t pay tax on the profits earned from poker players in that country. If governments can’t tax these profits they will ban the online poker rooms from operating in their country by blocking access to its website.
The next reason is the social problems. Depending on the views of a country’s government, they may see gambling as a problem to society. If they feel that it causes more harm to its citizens than the benefit of the tax revenues it produces they will ban online poker rooms.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In India
There is one province in India named Maharashtra that prevents access to online poker rooms. Here, the legislation named “Bombay Wager Act” means that a player can be prosecuted if they’re found playing within this state.
However, the enforcement of this act is not very clear. Since India’s large population in other provinces can access online poker rooms, it seems very difficult to enforce this act in this province. So, by and large, Indian players are able to access online poker rooms from within their country as long as they are outside of the Maharashtra province.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In Kenya
Online poker rooms in Kenya are legal if they are licensed by the local authorities. Currently, the only online site that is licensed for online poker in Kenya is called BetKenya. So, legal online poker is available to Kenyans through this provider.
However, their government has a very hands-off approach when it comes to offshore providers of online poker rooms. Since they are outside the jurisdiction of their government, they don’t actively regulate Kenyan poker players. So, as long as a Kenyan poker player can find an online poker room that accepts people from their country, they will be able to play poker online using offshore poker sites.
Here are a couple of poker sites that accept Kenyan players:
888 Poker and Titan Poker.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In Nigeria
The Nigerian authorities do not mention online poker in their legislation so currently, there are no restrictions for players accessing online poker rooms. Online gambling is actually permitted but it isn’t particularly well regulated. In any case, there are not many Nigerian licences for online gambling and neither are there many websites based in Nigeria too.
So, if Nigerian players want to play online poker they have to find offshore providers. Fortunately, Nigerians face no restrictions from the local authorities or ISP when accessing the actual websites.
However, due to the high credit card fraud rates originating from the country, they may face issues when trying to verify their accounts on registration. As long as they are able to provide the relevant information, they should be able to register.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In the USA
The legality of online poker is highly ambiguous. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was created in 2006 made it illegal for any financial institution to process transactions from illegal online gambling sites. However, the term “illegal online gaming site” was never clearly defined so it is open to broad interpretation.
This meant sites that served US players were shut down from operating the USA. These included the likes of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and UB Poker.
Nevada state is already accepting licenses for online poker websites who comply with a number of stipulations. The most important one being that licences will only be granted to existing licence holders. So, online operators such as 888 have partnered with land-based casinos like Caesars entertainment, and bwin.party has partnered with MGM.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In Russia
The Russian government’s stance towards online poker rooms (and online gambling in general) is clear - it’s completely illegal across the board. The Russian government appears committed to stopping online gambling from looking at the steps they’ve taken.
For example, internet service providers are required to block websites run by online gambling companies. If they don’t comply with this ruling they will lose their licenses. In 2012, a Roskomnadzor (communication) was published with a list of websites that are considered illegal by the Russian government. It includes many well-known names.
Due to this communication, many operators decided to stop providing services to Russian customers. So, Russian online poker players may encounter difficulties when trying to find an online poker room.
Interestingly, financial transactions have not been blocked to these sites. So, there are still some sites that don’t appear on the list that will accept Russian players.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In Canada
Online poker rooms in Canada is somewhat of a legal grey area. There is no law that explicitly says that it is illegal to operate an online casino serving Canadians. It’s only illegal to operate that casino from within Canada itself.
For players, there is no issue with the law. They can play online poker legally without problems. Since the online poker providers that they deal with will likely be offshore, it is outside the jurisdiction of Canada. So, unless the Canadian regulators make any changes to the law it is currently fine for Canadians to sign up for online poker rooms and start playing at the tables.
Situation With Online Poker Rooms In Australia
Playing online poker isn’t illegal for the players, however, for poker operators, it is illegal to run an online poker room in Australia. In 2017, the Australian government passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill which made it illegal for unlicensed operators to provide gambling services to Australians. This has caused many online poker rooms to stop offering services to Australians.
So, although it isn’t illegal for poker players to play at online poker rooms, they won’t be able to do so since the online poker room providers want to avoid legal problems. This has limited the options available for Australian players, even if they have alternative links and mirror sites.
Is It Safe And Legal To Use Alternative Link?
This will depend mostly on the country you are located in and it’s local regulations and laws. For some, (such as Russia) it is illegal for people to play any form of online gambling. So, even if you are able to access an online poker room through alternative links, if you are caught you will be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, other countries have a completely hands-off approach to offshore companies providing services to its citizens. Either they don’t actively enforce their laws or the current laws don’t cover online gambling. So, for these countries, it would be safe to use alternative links even if you have been blocked by regulators or your ISP.
When Should I Use Alternative Link For Online Poker Rooms?
You should use an alternative link for an online poker room if you can’t access the main website due to your ISP blocking access, or your local authorities have blocked you.
Other reasons to use alternative links is if the main website is down (or is slow because of downtime or if they’re experiencing high traffic).
How To Download Online Poker Rooms Software?
Online poker room software is typically available for download from the online poker providers website. If you are having difficulty accessing the website then you could use alternative links and mirror sites to access it.
Also, some poker providers provide mobile apps. So, you’ll be able to download the app for your Android or iOS device from their respective stores.
Press . Install the app by clicking on the downloaded file.
When the installation file has launched, press "Run".
Then press "Install".
Installation might take a few minutes.