U.S. Congressman Wexler Seeks Skill Game Exemption from UIGEA (which includes chess)
June 08, 2007
Martin Harris
On Thursday, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) introduced a House bill designed to exempt so-called ‘skill’ games such as poker and mahjong from the reach of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The Skill Game Protection Act (H.R. 2610) seeks to amend the 1961 Federal Wire Act in a way that would distinguish such skill-based games from the kinds of sports betting covered in that law, as well as from “game[s] based on chance” as outlined in the UIGEA.
The Skill Game Protection Act is the third House bill introduced in the last five weeks that responds in some fashion to the UIGEA. In late April, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046), a bill designed to license qualified businesses to operate online gambling sites within carefully-considered guidelines. In early May, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) introduced H.R. 2140 to provide for a study of internet gambling by the National Academy of Sciences.
Whereas the UIGEA speaks in broad terms regarding any “game based on chance,” Wexler’s bill draws a distinction between “[g]ames where success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players involved” and such “games of chance.” The Skill Game Protection Act specifically proposes to clarify the 1961 Wire Act’s references to “bets or wagers” so as “not [to] include operating, or participation in, poker, chess, bridge, mahjong or any other game where success is predominantly determined by a player’s skill.”
Source: PokerNews
chess should be exempt.
In a free society people should be allowed to gamble on anything they want to.
>>chess should be exempt.
Exempt from *what*? The story doesn’t tell us what kind of gambling is restricted, or in what way it’s restricted.
Frankly, the whole thing sounds silly if you’re going to start counting poker and such as skill based games. Almost any kind of gambling could be considered skill. Picking the right horse to win a race is a kind of skill. Picking the right football team to win a game is a kind of skill, and may involve very detailed examination of rosters, injury histories and the like. What kind of gambling are they *not* exempting?
>>In a free society people should be allowed to gamble on anything they want to. >>
You seem to have misunderstood the issue. This is apparently about what’s permitted on public airwaves and the like, not about what people do in the privacy of their own home.
have you heard that facebook have online poker game applications. the provider of the applications Ujogo is only offering its services to US players and offers US players cash as well as other prizes . Us Brits dont have it has bad as the Americans with the UNLAWFUL internet gambling enforcement act of 2006.We can still freely play our casino poker games for money online.
Continue reading to learn all that’s necessary to learn as a way to start protecting.