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GAMBLING

Swedish court rules Texas Hold’em a ‘game of skill’

A Swedish appeals court on Thursday sharply reduced the sentences for four men convicted for arranging an illegal poker tournament, a ruling which experts believe may open the door to more competition for Sweden’s state-owned gambling monopoly.

Swedish court rules Texas Hold'em a 'game of skill'

The case stems from a multi-million-kronor poker tournament involving 700 people which took place in Grebbestad in western Sweden in March 2007.

In April 2008, the Uddevala District Court sentenced two men, ages 35 and 37, to six months and eight months in jail, respectively, and two others, ages 52 and 56, were fined the equivalent of 80 days pay.

But the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden reduced the charges and sentences for all four men.

The two men who received jail time instead received suspended sentences, with the 35-year-old also receiving a fine equivalent for 60 days pay, while the charges for both men were changed from serious illegal gambling down to illegal gambling crimes.

However the drunk driving conviction and consequent month-long prison sentence for 37-year-old remained in place.

In addition, the other two men were exonerated completely by the appeals court.

The main reason for the court’s decision to reduce the men’s crimes and penalties was the fact that the tournament involved the poker game Texas Hold’em.

In order to be convicted of serious illegal gambling crimes, it is necessary for the game being played depend to a substantial degree on chance rather than a player’s skill.

The Court of Appeal concluded in its ruling that during a tournament of the sort arranged in Grebbestad, a player could be dealt up to 40 hands, or sets of cards, to play.

During a long tournament, the importance of chance plays a smaller role in the game’s outcome, and thus a player’s skill becomes more important.

Thus, according to the court, the tournament in question was so large that the players’ own ability to analyze the game was more important than what sort of cards they were dealt.

The Grebbestad tournament also included a large number of side games, however, which allowed players who had been eliminated from the main tournament to continue to play against one another.

These smaller, shorter games involved a significantly lower number of dealt hands, which the court therefore believed increased the importance of chance in determining the outcome, which is why the charges of regular, rather than serious, illegal gambling, still applied.

However, there is nothing in the investigation which shows that the representatives from the conference centre where the tournament was held, or the sponsoring gaming company were involved in arranging the side games, and as a result, they were not charged with any crimes.

According to Dan Glimne, a known poker expert and author of gaming books who was called by the defence to testify during the trial, the court’s ruling will likely lead others to arrange professional poker tournaments in direct competition with Casino Cosmopol, a subsidiary of the Svenska Spel state gaming monopoly which operates four casinos in Sweden.

Glimme welcomed the court’s decision to view the main tournament as a game of skill rather than a game of chance.

“Today poker has been given a national holiday in Sweden. We poker players think it’s great that poker has been given equal footing with backgammon, bridge, and chess,” he told the TT news agency.

He believes that large gaming companies are now thinking over exactly how they can profit from the ruling.

“Within a few months we’re going to see something big,” he said.

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GAMBLING

Spain to force gamblers to set time and spending limit before playing online

The Spanish government wants to limit the amount of time and money gamblers spend on online betting and gambling platforms by making them set limits before they start playing. 

Spain to force gamblers to set time and spending limit before playing online
Photo: PAUL ELLIS/AFP

This is the proposal in the latest draft decree of Spain’s General Directorate of Gambling which could be approved at the end of 2021 or early 2022.

Under the new rules, people who play online games such as bingo, roulette, black jack, baccarat and virtual fruit machines would have to first set how much money they intend to gamble and how long they intend to play. 

Whichever of the two limits runs out first would end the gambling session. 

If the law is approved, online gamblers in Spain will still be able to start another session straight afterwards, as the objective of the law is to help prevent players from losing control over what they’re spending and to give them a break to let the adrenaline rush drop and a moment to reconsider their options. 

In any case, online gamblers in Spain would have a daily spending limit of €600 or €1,500 a week if the draft law is approved.

With this clause, lawmakers hope to distinguish “serious” gamblers – those who surpass the 50 percent daily limit of €300 – from those who don’t play online as regularly. 

Once an online gambler was classified as “serious” (intensivo), they would not be allowed to pay for their gambling sessions with a credit card in order to prevent them from piling up debt. 

Spanish authorities are particularly concerned about the increasing number of young people who are becoming addicted to gambling and betting sites, often lured in by the promise of free bets when signing up.  

A 2019 report by Spain’s Federation of Rehabilitated Gamblers found that Spain has the highest rate of young gamblers (aged 14 to 21) in the EU. 

READ MORE: Spain has Europe’s highest rate of teen gamblers

The pandemic, including the lockdowns, restrictions and boredom that have come with it, have only served to intensify the trend. 

The average annual spending per player in Spain went from €312 in 2016 to €533 in 2020.

Under the new rules, young people would be considered “serious” gamblers if they spent 25 percent of the limits set: €150 for two days in a row, or €375 over the course of two weeks. 

More than 8.5 percent of online gamblers in Spain (of the 1.5 million total of active players) do not reach the mentioned levels that signal addiction.

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