Hi all, I'm a USA resident who will be travelling abroad for a prolonged period of time in the near future and am looking to play as much online as I can.

My question is: What sites actively accept USA residents while outside of the country? I ask this currently knowing that Stars does not accept any USA resident whatsoever, but I'll be able to play on 888 and PartyPoker. Any other good sites I should be looking out for?

Thanks guys.

you are poorly informed. afaik there is not a resident of any country prohibited from participating on any major site. the only thing that matters is the country you are located in and providing proof of adress in that country even if its short term.

Why are you so quick to judge that I'm poorly informed when you haven't even googled it and found out for yourself that I can't play on pokerstars until I'm a resident of a non-US country?

Hi,

We require sufficient verification that you are now a resident of Mexico (or whichever country you are moving to).

When you relocate, you'll be able to keep your existing PokerStars account which will include any remaining balance, FPPs, and so on.

Regards,

Michael J
PokerStars Security Team

Lol I don't need to google it when I live it, I'm an American who has played from many countries . All you need is a utility bill in your name. Takes about 1 week to get a new cable or landline installed where you are staying. Use the bill from that

That implies that I'm living there, I don't plan on installing cable or a landline in a hostel. We are in different situations my friend, thanks for your insight though.

I may be wrong here so don't bite my head off but i seriously doubt party and 888 will let you play with a USA address on the account when you leave the country. Or any site for that matter if you don't have proof of address in a country that legally allows the site to operate you best get used to playing on ACR.

You phrased the OP in a confusing way i can understand why coinflipper thought u were saying stars don't accept USA citizens even though you didn't directly say that. Thats how i read it the first time.

Yep, basically for all sites you need 2 files to get up and running: scan of passport and scan of utility bill. This is the same for ipoker,micro,888, stars,party. Without a utility bill in your name you will unlikely be able to cash out and or verify an account with any site

I believe all site require documents and proof of address in order to cash out. set up accounts first; then travel..gl

I talked with reps from both party and 888 and they told me in order to cash out you need to provide proof of identity, not proof that you reside in a country other than the US.

I went back to party to double check and this is our chat log from just a moment ago:


You [11:49:45 AM]
I am a resident of the USA who will be travelling to Costa Rica soon, I am looking to play online poker there but will not be gaining any type of residency just staying in hotels. Will I be able to play on party poker and be able to cash out any funds using skrill/neteller?

Shwetha [11:52:11 AM]
you need to create a new a/c frm costarica

Shwetha [11:52:53 AM]
you can play from there and request cashout once your account is verified

Shwetha [11:53:01 AM]
You need to send ID for verification

You [11:53:39 AM]
Great, and just to be clear I don't need to provide any proof of address to show that I am not residing in the US?

Shwetha [11:54:27 AM]
you need to use all the financials issued in Costarica.

Shwetha [11:54:53 AM]
If required by our security team, we may ask you to submit address proof

You [11:55:45 AM]
What do you mean by financials issued in Costa Rica?

You [11:56:11 AM]
And my address will be the one of my home in the US, will that suffice?

Shwetha [11:58:09 AM]
for how long you will be in costarica?

You [11:58:26 AM]
one month

Shwetha [11:59:40 AM]
okay you can play from costarica but you need to make deposit or cashout using the cards issued in costarica

Shwetha [12:00:33 PM]
your neteller account should be from costarica

You [12:02:01 PM]
What does that mean exactly? I just have to create a neteller account while there?

Shwetha [12:02:19 PM]
yes

Shwetha [12:02:35 PM]
you cannot use US neteller account

You [12:03:21 PM]
Will I be able to use that account to withdraw once I am back in the US or should I make sure to withdraw any funds before I leave Costa Rica?

Shwetha [12:04:49 PM]
one moment

Shwetha [12:07:27 PM]
you can cashout funds only while you are in costarica

You [12:09:07 PM]
Alright, and I have been told by a friend that I need to provide a utility bill to sign up/be able to cash out. I will not have one of these from a Costa Rican address, only one of my home address in the US. Will I still be able to play and cash out?

Shwetha [12:10:41 PM]
yes

Shwetha [12:10:43 PM]
you can

You [12:10:59 PM]
Great, thank you for your time today

Shwetha [12:12:19 PM]
you arew elcome

Shwetha [12:12:25 PM]
have a good day

Shwetha [12:12:27 PM]
bye

to get neteller/skrill/ecopay or a costa rican bank account you need a utility bill

also... never ever believe party only help chat or any sites support chat, they know nothing and lie nonstop

Yeah, I wouldn't expect to be able to play if you're only going to be visiting a country for a month. As coinflipper says, I wouldn't rely on that chat (don't necessarily agree with the "lie nonstop", but many times CS at all different sites gets things wrong - sometimes, very wrong), and even if they're 100% correct I wouldn't put a lot of faith in getting all of that done in time to be able to play for long enough to be worth the aggravation. I could easily see that process dragging out for weeks.

Interesting stuff, very disheartening but thanks for the info guys. Is there anything I can do? Should I look into installing something cheap that would get me a utility bill? I would really like to be able to play during this trip.

yes you need to install something, most places have min 1 year contract, try to find one that doesnt or just install anyway and only pay the months u will be there. in costa rica you are looking at 1-2 weeks from when you arrive and call to arrange appointment for tech to arrive and install. maybe setup appointment prior to arrival

Is this really feasible if I'm staying in a guest room or a hostel? What have you done when you were only in a country in a month?

Probably enjoyed the trip and/or played on US-facing sites.

If you're playing seriously and expecting to make a reasonable amount of money, it's probably worth emailing Poker Refugees and seeing if they'll do account setup for you even though you're not moving permanently. If they tell you it can't be done than at least you'll know.

What sort of stakes are you looking at playing?



I'm not commenting on, or on behalf of, any specific poker site or financial institution, but global Know Your Customer rules to combat money laundering basically require proof of identity (passport or similar) and proof of address (utility bill or similar). In addition, for a non-US facing poker site, you're going to need a non-US financial payment system.

No legit financial institution or poker site is going to tolerate you having no proof of address if you're withdrawing meaningful money. Obviously, thresholds will vary, so if you're playing trivial sums of money (like, 1c/2c or something) then you might not hit any thresholds for requiring KYC, but this depends on different jurisdictions and legitimate operators are likely to be more careful than the law forces them to bne.

If you're playing for small amounts of money, then you could plausibly use a local cash voucher system to deposit. When it comes to cashout, you're likely to have more difficulty.