Is Poker a Sport or a Game?

Sports are a great pastime. When one thinks of sports certain things come to mind: soccer, baseball, basketball and football, right? Yes, but that's not all... Most people who play a game competitively will argue that it is a sport, especially if it is at the professional level. Poker players in the Czech Republic are trying to make poker a recognized sport. This would mean that the government would have to make it legal for an online casino to operate poker for high stakes.

The Poker Players Alliance has been fighting to make poker a recognized sport for years. They have also tried to make the online casino version of poker legal in the United States especially since the UGIEA passed in 2006. As far as the Czech’s go, the Czech Association of Poker Clubs has been on a crusade to make poker play legal all over the world in online casinos and outside of land based casinos as well. The goal of the Alliance is to legalize in order to be able to regulate poker play in order to avoid organized crime rings.
The Prague Post reported recently that the Poker Players Alliance has a very good chance of getting what they want. The Czech Finance Ministry is willing to introduce new laws in order to make both online casino and land based gambling more efficient. The Czech Association of Poker Clubs is chomping at the bit for a chance to have a voice in the drawing up of the new laws.

Hopefully what all of this will do is create an open discussion about online casinos and poker play in general. The Czech’s are new to this game and most citizens view it as a hobby or a way to pass the time, not as a sport. Online casinos and land based “brick and mortar” casinos will continue to be debated about by the people of Czech until an agreement can be made.