UIGEA restricts, but doesn't prevent, online casinos in the U.S.

To describe current US online gambling law as "complex" would be an understatement. The prevailing ruling on the subject is a brief bit of an anti-terrorism law known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and calls for financial institutions to serve as a sort of police force to prevent transactions between players and online casinos or sportsbooks. In other words, technically it's legal for a player to deposit with a gambling website, but illegal for the bank to process that payment.

Meanwhile, as sports giant ESPN touts poker competitions on TV, the websites providing competitors for the tourneys are ostensibly disallowed from taking real money from U.S. players. So ... where are the players coming from, then? Are they all criminals?

For more on such stories and U.S. online gambling law, please see the below-listed stories.