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Online skill-based games are online games in which the outcome of the game is determined by the player's physical skill (like fast reaction or dexterity) or mental skill (logic abilities, strategic thinking, trivia knowledge). As in off-line games of skill, the definition has legal meaning, as playing games of chance for money is an illegal act in several countries.
Most skill-based games, or skillgames, fall into six categories: [1]
Around 2000, Disney invested millions in a new online skill-based game company called Skillgames.com (formerly PureSkill.com). Manhattan-based Skillgames, with endorsements by Disney-owned properties such as ESPN and ABC, was to develop skill-based games such as "Hole-In-One Golf," "Soap Opera Trivia" and others implemented as Java applets on their site. Players could win prizes up to a million dollars their first time playing. Skillgames, the brainchild of Walker Digital, also the parent company of Priceline.com, fell on hard times in 2001. Congress had begun to threaten a crack-down on Internet gambling, and although the company was confident of the distinction between games of skill and games of chance, Disney decided to withdraw its investment. Skillgames management announced a business model change in late spring of 2001 and rounds of layoffs followed. After Skillgames was forced by the September 11th attacks to relocate from its offices in Manhattan's Woolworth Building, the company failed to define a new direction, eventually going out of business in November 2001.
The first commercial launches of major skillgame sites in the US occurred in late 2000 when both WorldWinner and SkillJam (previously known as EGamesGroup) released the first versions of their respective online skill game systems.
In 2002 several large US-based portals, including MSN and Yahoo integrated SkillJam's and WorldWinner's services into their game platforms, thereby providing the first major distribution channels for wider skill game adoption.
King, the world’s largest online skills-game site, was launched in 2003. In January 2009, more than 350 million games were played at King, which is available in nine languages. King has featured the skill-game versions of such TV shows as American Idol , The Biggest Loser , Deal or No Deal and 1 vs.100 .
Following the success of poker sites, online casinos such as Casino On Net and GoldenPalace.com learned that users want to play against each other instead of the house, and attempted to launch skill-based game sites in 2004 and 2005 with mixed results.
Several efforts have been made to include poker under the definition of game of skill to legalize Internet poker in the US. On May 26, 2007, representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, and on June seventh, 2007, representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced H.R. 2607, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act. In 2009, both Frank and McDermott reintroduced modified versions of these bills. In combination, these bills would legalize and regulate online gambling.
In August 2009, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) proposed the Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act, suggesting to license and regulate online poker and online skill-based games such as backgammon, bridge and mahjong in the US. [2]
In May 2013, Skillz launched a third party real money gaming platform through a game by Glu Mobile on GooglePlay. Google promptly shut down all real money games later that summer, as it was determined that not all aspects of the games launched were in-line with the company's policies against gambling. Google has yet to re-open real money gaming on GooglePlay.
In August of 2013, Cashplay launched the first real money skill games on Apple’s iOS mobile platform, paving the way for thousands of developers to have a channel to introduce their own real money skill games.
Also in August 2013, Oulala Fantasy Football launched on the premise it was the first fantasy football (or fantasy soccer) game to include an extensive scoring matrix as opposed to the normal 5 to 10 that most other games operate, thus supposedly making it a true skill fantasy football management game. [3]
In October 2015, Kickback launched a service that let users play video games for real money. [4]
Supporters of online skill-based game legalization and regulation include the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, which believes "the government should regulate Internet gambling to ensure proper consumer protections are in place." [5]
Like poker sites, many skillgame sites take a rake commission fee from head-to-head and tournament games; however, this oft-ignored practice is de facto illegal in the U.S. Unlike casino games or games of chance, the outcome of a skill game is predominantly determined by the user's skill level. In many U.S. states, the outcome must be determined entirely by the user's skill level.
Successful skill games heavily modify the game play of "regular" casual games such as solitaire or sudoku in order to remove as many random events as possible. [6] The analogy is that the influence of chance in a skill game should not exceed the influence of chance in any other pro sport competition, such as golf or football.
Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, where permitted by law. Casino games can also be played outside of casinos for entertainment purposes, like in parties or in school competitions, on machines that simulate gambling.
A fantasy sport is a game, often played using the Internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete based on the statistical performance of those players in actual games. This performance is converted into points that are compiled and totaled according to a roster selected by each fantasy team's manager. These point systems can be simple enough to be manually calculated by a "league commissioner" who coordinates and manages the overall league, or points can be compiled and calculated using computers tracking actual results of the professional sport. In fantasy sports, as in real sports team owners draft, trade, and cut (drop) players.
A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, numbered balls, or in the case of digital games random number generators. A game of chance may be played as gambling if players wager money or anything of monetary value.
A game of skill or game of wits is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than chance.
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2005, while a survey carried out by DrKW and Global Betting and Gaming Consultants asserted online poker revenues in 2004 were at $1.4 billion. In a testimony before the United States Senate regarding Internet Gaming, Grant Eve, a Certified Public Accountant representing the US Accounting Firm Joseph Eve, Certified Public Accountants, estimated that one in every four dollars gambled is gambled online.
Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. It is a prolific form of online gambling.
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment was an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Formerly the world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it was best known for its online poker room PartyPoker, World Poker Tour and its sports betting brand Bwin.
Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos, and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery in October 1994. Today, the market is worth around $40 billion globally each year, according to various estimates.
Evoke plc, formerly 888 Holdings Limited, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It owns brands such as 888casino, 888poker, 888sport, Mr Green, and William Hill. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London, alongside satellite offices in Bucharest, Ceuta, Gibraltar, Leeds, Malta, Sofia, and Tel Aviv. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
PokerStars is an online poker cardroom. It is the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total online poker market, and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, formerly known as Betandwin, is an Austrian online betting brand acquired by Entain PLC. The group operated under international and regional licences in countries like Gibraltar, the Amerindian reserve of Kahnawake (Canada), and Belize; and Germany, Italy, Mexico, Croatia, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom in Europe. Bwin offered sports betting, poker, casino games, and soft and skill games, with most revenue coming from poker and sports betting. Bwin had over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Competence centres were located in Vienna, Stockholm, and Gibraltar.
Mobile gambling refers to playing games of chance or skill for money by using a remote device such as a tablet computer, smartphone or a mobile phone with a wireless internet connection. Over a hundred mobile casinos were operating as of December 2013, with most of the big casino operators in gambling now providing a mobile platform for their player base.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) is United States legislation regulating online gambling. It was added as Title VIII to the SAFE Port Act which otherwise regulated port security. The UIGEA prohibits gambling businesses from "knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law." The act specifically excludes fantasy sports that meet certain requirements, skill games, and legal intrastate and intertribal gaming. The law does not expressly mention state lotteries, nor does it clarify whether interstate wagering on horse racing is legal.
Play65 is an online backgammon operator established in 2004 by an Israeli-based company, SkillEmpire, that hosts real-time backgammon games and tournaments. With its client software available in 21 languages, including English, Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, etc. Play65 has more than 5,000,000 registered players, making it one of the biggest backgammon communities online. Play65 is licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC).
Gambling in India varies by state; states in India are entitled to formulate their own laws for gambling activities. Some states like Goa have legalised casinos. Common gambling activities like organized betting are restricted except for selective categories including lottery and horse racing.
The Southern District of New York (SDNY) Action Against Online Poker Players was a legal action taken by the Department of Justice in an effort to crack down on online poker. The action occurred around June 8, 2009, when the government ordered four banks to freeze over 34 million dollars in payments owed to about 27,000 poker players. According to the Poker Players Alliance, a grass-roots organization for poker players, federal prosecutors ordered Citibank, Wells Fargo and Goldwater Bank and Alliance Bank of Arizona to freeze the accounts of Allied Systems and Account Services. Allied Systems and Account Services are two of the account-management companies that Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet and PokerStars use for the disbursement of funds.
Gambling in Pennsylvania includes casino gambling, the Pennsylvania Lottery, horse racing, bingo, and small games of chance conducted by nonprofit organizations and taverns under limited circumstances. Although casino gaming has been legal for less than two decades, Pennsylvania is second only to Nevada in commercial casino revenues.
Gambling in New Jersey includes casino gambling in Atlantic City, the New Jersey Lottery, horse racing, off-track betting, charity gambling, amusement games, and social gambling. New Jersey's gambling laws are among the least restrictive in the United States. In 2013, the state began to allow in-state online gambling. Five years later, the state won a lawsuit that dismantled Nevada's monopoly on legal sports betting.
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) are a subset of fantasy sport games. As with traditional fantasy sports games, players compete against others by building a team of professional athletes from a particular league or competition while remaining under a salary cap, and earn points based on the actual statistical performance of the players in real-world competitions. Daily fantasy sports are an accelerated variant of traditional fantasy sports that are conducted over short-term periods, such as a week or single day of competition, as opposed to those that are played across an entire season. Daily fantasy sports are typically structured in the form of paid competitions typically referred to as a "contest"; winners receive a share of a pre-determined pot funded by their entry fees. A portion of entry fee payments go to the provider as rake revenue.
Gambling in Italy has existed for centuries and has taken on many forms. Its dates back to the days of the Roman Empire, when the predecessor of the modern game of backgammon, Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, became popular among Roman legionnaires. It is also due to them that the game came to other European countries.
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