Now that Federal Judge Jack Weinstein’s ruling in Brooklyn Tuesday that poker is a skill and not a game of chance paved the way for online price per head poker sites, there is a now a chance that sports betting could also be deemed the same.
For the past few years the Poker Alliance of America has been urging for legalization through “education and awareness the PPA will keep this game of skill, one of America’s oldest recreational activities, free from egregious government intervention and misguided laws,” according to their website. (theppa.org)
Live betting against other players, whether in person or now through the internet is now set to be the biggest expansion of gambling since the sports betting was introduced to Las Vegas in the 1970’s.
Now price per head sports betting sites wonder if the same ruling will be applied to sports gambling, as most feel that wagering on sports is a skill, and requires a vast knowledge of statistics and other such information.
Live betting poker players spend years honing their craft, much like a high salaried ball player hones his. Poker players also have been able to play at a professional level, declaring their incomes to the Internal Revenue Service, just as any other worker would.
So therefore, if a person spends years learning a skill such as prediction based on facts, circumstance, people and location, why can this person also not be considered a pay per head professional in sports wagering?
With prediction models set up for hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, and of course the weather, why couldn’t a person earn a price per head for a game in which players are paid millions to be the best they can be.
Quite possibly the scare of the professional leagues and the NCAA are what is keeping the Federal Government with their head in the sand. Maybe they don’t want to backtrack against the numerous revisions to interstate gambling.
Will New Jersey push the sports betting through its casinos successfully? If the Federal Government allows price per head sports gambling in the state, there may very well be another judge like Weinstein who agrees that sports wagering is that of skill, and the United States will may finally have online sports betting legalized.
