Pennsylvanian court rules Poker is a game of chance

Bloggers / Dave Allan / 25 August 2009 / Leave a Comment

A 65 year old man from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania faces having a criminal record after a court ruled that poker is a game of chance and not skill.

Lawrence Burns was charged with 12 different illegal gambling misdemeanour's back in 2007 after authorities were informed he had been running poker tournaments at two local fire halls.

Mr Burns admitted organising the tournaments but argued he was not in breach of any gambling laws because Texas Hold'em is a game of skill. The court's argument was that any game where a payment is made, there is a possibility of a reward and the outcome is left to chance is gambling.

Lawyers of the elderly Mr Burns put forward their case, mainly built around the common knowledge that if you apply learned techniques to poker then your win rate increases and therefore should be counted as a skill game, not one of chance.

They even called upon Dr Robert Hannum, a professor at the University of Denver, to give testimony and he showed the court and jury a computer simulation where the skilled players won approximately 960 million of the one billion possible outcomes.

Despite this expert's view, the 12-person jury took only two hours of deliberation to find Mr Burns guilty on all twelve charges. Whilst the local Attorney said he would not be pressing for a jail sentence, Mr Burns has vowed to fight his corner and has lodged an appeal.