Swiss court rules that poker is a game of luck rather than skill
Saturday, 5 June 2010
As Orson Welles said in the classic film The Third Man, "In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." Judges in Switzerland have done nothing to change that less than impressive reputation by ruling poker a game of luck rather than skill.
The ridiculous ruling means that poker tournaments can now only be played in casinos.
The decision has been slammed by the International Federation of Poker which successfully lobbied for poker to be added to the International Mind Sports Association earlier this year. Author and IFP president Anthony Holden had this to say, "This is yet another example of misguided poker thinking by courts and judges who simply do not understand the game – i.e. that poker is a ‘mind-sport’ of strategic skill far more than luck.
“The same has happened in various US states, at the very moment when America’s repressive Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act comes into force. If poker-players and admirers just stand by and watch this happen, we are conceding our rights to external forces who still think poker is a remnant of the old Wild West, rather than the clean, regulated, skilful ‘mind-sport’ all current poker-players know and love.”
We look forward to seeing the Swiss judges try their luck in the big game at Bobby's Room.
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