Reddit Is Poker Gambling
While many people play and appreciate poker, its definition as gambling remains contentious. Any time someone wagers money with the potential to either gain or lose it qualifies as gambling – which includes poker. While most poker hands won by players are due to skill, an element of chance plays into any given hand – something which makes the game both engaging and highly addictive.
Poker players face each other as opposed to an outside house when competing, making the game far less dependent on luck and more of a test of their skill than luck. This was at the core of an ongoing legal dispute after the UIGEA passed and lead to an eventual ruling that poker did not violate this particular piece of legislation due to being an act of skill rather than chance.
Many gambling treatment programs rely on addicts revealing their addiction and promising never to gamble again, yet this approach can be both patronizing and counter-productive, since most problem & compulsive gamblers have pledged never to return time after time only to end up back at it anyway.