Toward Legalization of Poker: The Skill vs. Chance Debate

This paper sheds light on the age-old argument as to whether poker is a game in which skill predominates over chance or vice versa. Recent work addressing the issue of skill vs. chance is reviewed. This current study considers two different scenarios to address the issue: 1) a mathematical analysis supported by computer simulations of one random player and one skilled player in Texas Hold\u27Em, and 2) full-table simulation games of Texas Hold\u27Em and Seven Card Stud. Findings for scenario 1 showed the skilled player winning 97 percent of the hands. Findings for scenario 2 further reinforced that highly skilled players convincingly beat unskilled players. Following this study that shows poker as predominantly a skill game, various gaming jurisdictions might declare poker as such, thus legalizing and broadening the game for new venues, new markets, new demographics, and new media. Internet gaming in particular could be expanded and released from its current illegality in the U.S. with benefits accruing to casinos who wish to offer online poker

Economic Value, Equal Dignity and the Future of Sweepstakes

The three basic forms of prize gaming are gambling, sweepstakes, and contests. Most states have a common approach to determining the legality of prize gaming. In general, states analyze if an activity includes three factors associated with gambling: (1) opportunity to win a prize, (2) winning based on chance, and (3) consideration paid to take that chance. If you take away any one of the three elements of gambling—consideration, prize, or chance—you have an activity that is lawful in most states. A contest, for example, differs from gambling because the winner is determined by skill. Determination of whether a (pay-for-play) skill game (with prizes) is a permitted game as opposed to a prohibited game (of chance) is based on the relative degrees of skill and chance present in the game. In most states, if skill is the predominant factor in determining a winner, the game is lawful. “[S]weepstakes always contain the elements of chance and prize, so the element of consideration must be eliminated to avoid violating” gambling or lottery prohibitions. Ascertaining what is consideration can prove, however, to be difficult. This Article addresses how the element of consideration is analyzed in the context of whether a particular activity is illegal gambling or a legal sweepstakes. For example, the ABA survey activity certainly has both prizes and a chance drawing that determines winners, but does the requirement that you must complete a survey for entry constitute consideration? What about the retail promotions through which you receive a game piece for buying products? What about an unlicensed slot machine that you can play by either inserting a coin or sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to receive a code that permits you to play one game for free? These and other scenarios are addressed in this Article

Regulating Land Based Casinos: Policies, Procedures, and Economics

Once restricted to exotic locations like Las Vegas, Macau, and Monte Carlo, casinos are now operating in many cities nationally and internationally from the Maryland waterfront to Ho Chi Minh City. This expansion of the gaming industry, both geographically and economically, raises new and important policy questions about the role of government in gaming regulation, the obligations and opportunities for casinos, and public support for gambling and gaming tax revenue. The contributors to this book have decades of experience in gaming regulation and business and are optimistic about the future of gaming and casinos. Each author critically engages the subject and offers his or her insight into what works and what does not in the gaming business and gaming regulation. Whether a jurisdiction is considering legalizing gaming or deciding how to regulate an existing gaming industry, it should engage in a careful cost-benefit analysis informed by available data and the jurisdiction’s particular public policy goals. Each chapter in this book considers a key component of this process. The chapters collect and analyze gaming research from a wide variety of disciplines, including law, business, social sciences, economics, and tax to explain the many approaches a jurisdiction might take to identify and address important policy goals and to suggest emerging issues that require additional research and data. The chapters also incorporate extensive industry experience and examples to investigate the effects of different regulatory practices on the gaming industry, industry stakeholders, and the public.https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/books/1095/thumbnail.jp