Playing Bitcoin poker? Well, if poker wasn’t already enough of a gamble, players are increasingly placing bets with the most speculative currency of them all. Poker websites have started accepting bitcoin from U.S. players to skirt federal legislation that makes it illegal to transfer funds associated with illegal Internet gambling, at a time when bitcoin advocates are striving to distance the virtual currency from illegal activities.

The move to bitcoin in online poker started after the Department of Justice seized three of the biggest poker websites in the U.S. on April 15, 2011, a day known as Black Friday in the poker community. Bitcoin poker has gained momentum this year alongside the expanding profile and rising price of bitcoin, open-source software that has been heralded as both a virtual currency and protocol for payments. Bitcoin started the year trading around $13 and surged above $1,000 in late November.

Federal authorities aren’t sure if it’s a currency, a security, or something else altogether. Designation aside, bitcoin is increasingly used in very traditional purchases, from buying a house to getting a beer, and lately, playing a few hands of Texas Hold ‘em.

Patrick, a 24-year-old graduate student who plays poker online through the bitcoin poker website SealsWithClubs and who asked for his last name to be withheld, became interested in bitcoin after online poker’s Black Friday. “A lot of us were looking for an alternative and bitcoin seemed like the next logical move because of the nature of the payment processing,” he said. “[It’s] instant, fairly anonymous, can be used in a number of fairly interesting ways.”

This story on Bitcoin poker was originally published on the Market Watch website.