Why is poker illegal?

What could be worse than finding out that your favorite game is banned in the country or state where you are? Why is poker illegal here if it is allowed almost everywhere else? The answer to this question is quite complicated and simple at the same time.

Poker falls under the law on gambling which can vary greatly from place to place. For example, in Europe, almost all countries have legalized or are in the process of legalizing gambling, while the United States is very different in this regard and it is clearly visible if you look at the laws of different states.

Why is this so, what are the reasons for blocking gambling determined? Usually, the following reasons are used for the ban:

religious prohibition (although nowadays it may look strange, but many people who oppose the legalization of gambling use as an argument the prohibition by religion to participate in gambling and specifically poker);
addiction, most of gambling receives the maximum profit from a small group of people, for example, according to the profit reports of mobile games, more than 80% of the profit is brought by less than 5% of all players. Also, most gambling does not have any regulatory system to protect addicted players who can lose a huge amount of money and become a drain on society;

minimal ability to control the profits of institutions. Gambling involves a huge amount of cash, and where there is a huge amount of cash there will always be people who will try to somehow benefit by illegal means. Establishments can hide the exact profits; games can be used for money laundering and various ways can be used to cheat both establishments and players.

So, most countries that have banned gambling, when asked why is poker illegal, will tell you that it is an addictive game that can easily leave a person without money and is difficult to control. However, at the same time, along with the prohibition of poker, there is a question of banning lotteries because they are theoretically also a game of chance, but this issue causes a terrible debate because most lotteries are state-owned and the chance of winning is related to the number of winning tickets that are printed and information about them is publicly available, although a person playing relies on the same statistics and luck.

However, many countries had or have certain loopholes that allowed them to bypass the ban. For example, there is a quite popular example from Japan, when people play for chips (which are illegal to exchange for money), in the institution in which they play, they offer to exchange chips for various prizes (toys, figurines, small jewelry and other things that are easy to wear), after which the player goes to another institution where he sells his “toy” for money. Thus, the addition of an additional action turned gambling into a regular game that is not prohibited by law. A similar scheme worked in the United States, but it was quickly banned.

What are the laws regarding online poker? Although most countries that have banned gambling have banned online poker because it is the same game of chance, there are exceptions in some of them. In most countries, you can play online poker because the servers and bank accounts of the institution are located abroad, in a country with legal gambling, and which uses a license agreement to remove all responsibility from the institution. In the USA, for example, some states have legal penalties for such actions, although most casinos that you can run and have a license are quite legal to use.

Before gambling, always read the laws of the country and find out how legal it is. If poker is banned in the places where you are, you can always play online not for money, and get some of the pleasure that brings you a game for cash. Good luck in your games, and always make sure that the game is legal, it is better to check than to pay a fine.