SKILL VS. CHANCE POKER DEBATE CONTINUES
14 August 2009
Colorado reversal to be appealed
The U.S. poker advocacy group Poker Players Alliance
remains in the thick of things in the skill vs. chance
legal debate still ongoing in Colorado. In its latest
press release on the issue, the organisation has
expressed its support for efforts to appeal a ruling in
a state intermediate court that poker is predominately a
game of chance as part of the case Colorado v. Kevin
Raley.
The defendant, Kevin Raley, is to file a
petition in the Colorado Supreme Court requesting an
appeal of the intermediate court's recent ruling that
poker is gambling [as a game predominently of chance]
under Colorado law.
"The PPA is going to do
everything in its power to support Mr. Raley's efforts
in order to protect PPA members and all poker players in
the state of Colorado," said Gary Reed, PPA's Colorado
State Director.
"I am especially alarmed because
this ruling ignores the abundance of research that
proves poker is a game of skill and confuses rather than
clarifies the matter for law enforcement that may use
scarce resources to raid and arrest poker players
instead of investigating real unlawful activity in the
state."
In the original case, a county court
allowed the jury to hear expert testimony by Professor
Robert Hannum, Professor of Statistics at the University
of Denver, that poker is a game of skill.
Based
on this testimony, and other evidence presented, the
jury found Kevin Raley not guilty of illegal gambling
(see previous InfoPowa report).
The Weld County
District Attorney appealed that ruling, claiming that
the testimony of Professor Hannum should have not been
allowed because Colorado courts have already concluded
that, as a matter of law, poker is gambling.
The
PPA statement says: "Unfortunately, the district court
overruled the trial judge's determination to allow
Professor Hannum to testify. The district court's
decision does not overturn the jury's "not guilty"
verdict, but it does put the future of poker in Colorado
in legal limbo."
"Given the Weld County District
Court judge's ruling that poker is gambling because of
the small element of chance in the dealing of cards, one
could easily presume that any game that depends even a
little on chance – from Monopoly to Yahtzee to Candy
Land – is gambling and therefore illegal in the state of
Colorado," said John Pappas, executive director of the
PPA.
"We clearly think this is the wrong
interpretation of the law, especially in regard to
poker, and the PPA is committed to helping demonstrate
to the Colorado Supreme Court the broad academic
research that exists showing that poker is indeed a game
of skill."
The PPA,which has over 13 000 members
in Colorado, has been involved in similar cases across
the country, such as South Carolina, Kansas and
Pennsylvania, where the question of skill versus chance
is being reassessed in the courts in order to clarify
existing law.
"The choice to petition the
Colorado Supreme Court is about more than me or my
friends, it's about all poker players' opportunity to
ensure that current Colorado law recognizes that poker
is a game of skill and is based on much more than the
luck of the draw," said Kevin Raley.
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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