Poker - a game of skill
Skill or Gambling
The jury at a major court case in Colorado decided that poker is not gambling, after a police raid on games in a bar the defence won their case.
Have you ever been accused of gambling away money playing poker? Well fear not, a criminal trial in Colorado has deemed poker as a game of skill rather than gambling. A case was brought of Colorado versus Kevin Raley after a game was raided at Rafferty’s Bar in Greeley, Colorado. About thirty customers at the bar were playing as part of a social group that had been advertised on the internet and elsewhere. Raley was charged with “professional gambling” alongside another four people who were referred to as either dealers or organisers of the game.
The raid, according to the initial report, began with undercover officers joining the game which was played at the west Greeley bar twice every week. However, the game was not organised by the bar, rather by the semi-private poker club. Colorado state law allows for social gambling and as a result, the game could have been viewed as such. However, officials decided that since the game was taking place in a location which served alcohol it broke the state law against games of chance taking place in licensed premises. However, when the case came to trial, the claim that it broke the state law was deemed incorrect by the jury as shown by their verdict.
The defence was given considerable help by Poker Player Alliance officials who produced evidence that poker was a game of skill and as a result Colorado law should not treat it as “gambling”. Colorado law exempts “bona fide contests of skill” from being considered gambling. Statistics produced by University of Denver’s Professor Robert Hannum were presented by the defence lawyer Todd Taylor. They, alongside Professor Hannum’s testimony asserted that poker largely consisted of skill and considerably helped the jury reach their “not guilty” verdict. The defence’s statistical evidence was also produced by the Poker Player Alliance Colorado state director Gary Reed.
After winning the case, Raley, who is himself a member of the Poker Player Alliance, thanked the organisation for the help it gave during the case. The victory means two things for poker players in Colorado. Firstly, there is now statistical proof of the skill element in poker in the legal public record and secondly, the decision means that bar-league poker events should now be able to take place in Colorado.
