by Adam
4. January 2010 08:12
We’ve had a few entries on this blog about the continuing debate over whether poker is a game of chance or skill and whether it should be legal or illegal and it’s been made pretty clear as to which side we’re on.
Our interest was re-sparked recently by a new take on the argument by The Attorney General of South Carolina who is appealing a judge’s decision to dismiss illegal gambling charges against 5 poker players. The judge ruled in favor of the poker players, agreeing that poker is indeed a game of skill. The Attorney General disagreed with this decision and said this law had nothing to do with whether poker was a game of skill or not, but rather it had to do with whether the game involved the risk of one person taking the money of another’s.
Any gaming for money, no matter what the nature of the game, should be illegal according to The Attorney General.
Previously, poker players had the argument that keeping gambling illegal was fine by them but categorizing poker as gambling was their issue. Poker, as seen by most poker players, is not a game of luck, but a game of skill and is therefore not gambling.