AMSTERDAM COURT RULES POKER A GAME OF CHANCE

Monday March 7,2016 : AMSTERDAM COURT RULES POKER A GAME OF CHANCE

Long running case dealt its final hand.

According to Netherlands gaming authority Kansspelautoriteit, a Dutch court ruled late last week on the skill vs. chance poker debate saying in its view poker is a game of chance. 

The ruling was handed down in a case involving the indictment of three men accused of violating Dutch gambling law when they organised a pub poker tournament in 2007 without a permit.  In defence, the men claimed the game was one of skill which negated the need for a permit.

The court said it took a different view on the defendants skill vs. chance defence as “the distribution of the cards, play a role in profit or loss regardless of how skilled a poker player is”.

Two of the men who organised the tournament received a suspended fine of Euro 1,250 while the third man, the owner of the pub, received a conditional fine of Euro 500.