Is this gambling?

[Passacaglia]

On Tuesday nights, lurker and I go to a bar near us for pub trivia. It's a pretty common thing, and I know from facebook that at least one FOFCer does some form of the same thing. You bring a team, it's $5 per person, and the winning team gets 80% of the pot, and the 2nd place team gets 20% of the pot.

Anyway, we were talking about asking someone if he wanted to come out, but then realized that he doesn't gamble for religious reasons -- which led to a discussion of whether or not this could be considered gambling.

Yeah, there's probably a thread that discuss this tangentially -- probably the one about Neuheisel -- but I thought a thread specifically about trivia night would get some good responses.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I don't think it's gambling, but that's just a gut reaction more than anything. I guess it's really no different than playing a round of golf and everyone chipping in and then divvying up the winnings by holes or however that works.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

I would think to a very religious person both this, and even moreso the golf example, would be gambling.

It's putting money in with the chance of either losing your money or making a lot more. Then again, do the the very religious avoid the stock market as well?

[Mustang]

I'd say yes. You are taking a chance that the questions that come up you'll know and you are wagering money on it.

Do I personally think it is gambling? No. Of course, I don't think Texas Hold'em is gambling either so, what do I know.

[jbergey22]

A contest where money exchanges hands is gambling based on definition alone.

Of course you could consider it gambling just jumping in your car every day so its very much an opinion bases question.

[wade moore]

To me this is pretty clearly gambling, not sure how there's any way around that.

[PackerFanatic]

I know ISiddiqui does this as well.

[Rizon]

Gambling.

[MJ4H]

I would say there is no element of chance here, so no, not gambling. Or very litte element. You can always argue that things like which categories or questions come up is chance, but the prime factor at play is not chance, like it would be in a dice or card game.

My vote: not gambling.

[MikeVic]

I would say there is no element of chance here, so no, not gambling. Or very litte element. You can always argue that things like which categories or questions come up is chance, but the prime factor at play is not chance, like it would be in a dice or card game.

My vote: not gambling.

But which categories and questions that come up is gambling... I vote gambling on this one, although I wouldn't say it's the same as gambling at a casino or on sports.

[MikeVic]

But then again, what's wrong about just asking the people? They'll just say no if they think it's gambling, right?

[Passacaglia]

But then again, what's wrong about just asking the people? They'll just say no if they think it's gambling, right?

Nothing's wrong with that -- we did ask him. But there was speculation that he might not come because he thinks of it as gambling, which got us talking about whether or not it could be considered as such. Talking about the guy was just me giving out pointless background info.

[jbergey22]

But which categories and questions that come up is gambling... I vote gambling on this one, although I wouldn't say it's the same as gambling at a casino or on sports.

+1.

[RainMaker]

It's not necessarily gambling though since you control the results. I've always considered gambling to be the wagering on an event of sorts not associated with the players. As such, I don't consider Bingo to be gambling but instead a contest or game. I guess you could consider it gambling but for me I think there is a distinction in betting on a sporting event of roll of the roulette wheel versus a contest that you have to win.

Otherwise wouldn't every football game played on Sunday be considered gambling if there are bonuses in the contracts for winning?

[MJ4H]

It's not necessarily gambling though since you control the results. I've always considered gambling to be the wagering on an event of sorts not associated with the players. As such, I don't consider Bingo to be gambling but instead a contest or game. I guess you could consider it gambling but for me I think there is a distinction in betting on a sporting event of roll of the roulette wheel versus a contest that you have to win.

Which part of Bingo do you control??

[jbergey22]

It's not necessarily gambling though since you control the results. I've always considered gambling to be the wagering on an event of sorts not associated with the players. As such, I don't consider Bingo to be gambling but instead a contest or game. I guess you could consider it gambling but for me I think there is a distinction in betting on a sporting event of roll of the roulette wheel versus a contest that you have to win.

Otherwise wouldn't every football game played on Sunday be considered gambling if there are bonuses in the contracts for winning?

When betting on sports dont you control which side you take?

[RainMaker]

When betting on sports dont you control which side you take?
You don't control the outcome of the game. You are betting on a random event and hoping one side comes through.

[jbergey22]

Which part of Bingo do you control??

You control which cards you pick:)

[RainMaker]

Which part of Bingo do you control??
Yeah, Bingo is a bad example. :)

[jbergey22]

You don't control the outcome of the game. You are betting on a random event and hoping one side comes through.

So its pretty much the same as bingo then:)

[Rizon]

Get a room you two:)

[panerd]

It's sad that we have allowed lawmakers and fundamentalists to make this an issue anyways. So a lottery, horse racing, bingo, etc are prefectly fine but I am supposed to feel like I am not a productive member of society if I want to lay 50 bucks on tonight's Texas-Alabama game while not living in the state of Nevada? Who cares? The people who enjoy it should hang out with people who enjoy it and the people who don't shouldn't.

[Passacaglia]

Otherwise wouldn't every football game played on Sunday be considered gambling if there are bonuses in the contracts for winning?

I think a key element of gambling must be that you stand to lose something if you don't win.

[Bad-example]

Not gambling. It is a tournament with an entry fee and prizes. No different from a dart or bowling tourney.

[samifan24]

Could it be considered gambling? Yes.

Do I consider it to be gambling? No.

[JediKooter]

He probably just sucks at trivia and is using it as an excuse.

[Samdari]

Games of chance are considered gambling, games of skill not so.

Hence heated debates about poker, since there are elements of both.

[spleen1015]

I bet this would not fit into the definition in which this person follows for gambling.

[jbergey22]

I guess Im not surprised the results on this one have been pretty much 50/50 the entire time.

[KWhit]

The real question I have is what does gambling have to do with religion anyway?

[panerd]

I think you guys are kind of missing the point. The guy says he can't go for "religious reasons". What could the Bible possibly say are the ills of going and hanging out and playing trivia with your friends? If that is the level of commitment and attitude one needs to get into the kingdom of heaven what fun would heaven be? Sounds like North Korea to me.

[panerd]

The real question I have is what does gambling have to do with religion anyway?

Exactly. Passaglia asks him if he wants to go on a Charles Manson like murder spree or drink and drive to the local whorehouse and bang a 16 year old sex slave than I am fine with his abstaining for "religious" reasons. But this is a pretty weak copout.

[Izulde]

Not gambling.

As others have said, gambling = chance, with potential to lose something. Trivia is a game of skill for the most part.

[Surtt]

But which categories and questions that come up is gambling... I vote gambling on this one, although I wouldn't say it's the same as gambling at a casino or on sports.


Not gambling.

They are all trivia questions.
Separating them into categories is just window dressing.

[RainMaker]

I think you guys are kind of missing the point. The guy says he can't go for "religious reasons". What could the Bible possibly say are the ills of going and hanging out and playing trivia with your friends? If that is the level of commitment and attitude one needs to get into the kingdom of heaven what fun would heaven be? Sounds like North Korea to me.
Nothing. In fact, the Bible doesn't really say anything about gambling at all. It's just people in power who get off on telling other people how to live their life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going out and playing trivia with friends for a few bucks. Churches hold events like that all the time.

[ISiddiqui]

I know ISiddiqui does this as well.

Damn my Facebook statuses! ;)

But I don't pay any money in. Though even if you factor that in, I don't consider it gambling. As stated above by others, trivia is a game of skill.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Is the question do YOU consider it gambling or COULD it be considered gambling? I doubt many people here would call it gambling, but I can easily see where a very strict religious person would avoid it like the plague. You are betting some of your money that you can outperform others so that you can win a large amount more. You are gambling on your skill.

[claphamsa]

its a knowledge test, so I dont see any way its gambling. Bingo is gambling since you have no control! here you have control, so no gambling :)

[Radii]

I think you guys are kind of missing the point. The guy says he can't go for "religious reasons".


I dunno, the question was do I think its gambling. Gambling doesn't carry a negative connotation for me in any way. You're wagering $5 for a chance to win much more if you win a game. That's gambling to me. But there is no reason that should be a bad thing.

Religious beliefs are all very unique and very personal, I doubt any of us could guess with any certainty what this one individual draws the line at as far as his religious beliefs. Maybe he was raised not to risk money and therefore wouldn't feel comfortable even doing this. Maybe gambling to him is the excess of Vegas and this is a totally different thing. I'm curious to learn what the answer is.



Going down a little tangent here... the dictionary definition of gambling is "to play a game for money or property" or "to bet on an uncertain outcome." Isn't the whole "game of skill" vs "game of chance" just a legal construct to try to separate poker from other games to people who view 'gambling' as immoral and who try to make such things illegal? When I play poker I'm gambling, I just believe that I'm gambling with an edge in my favor as opposed to any other game I could play in a casino.

[JonInMiddleGA]

You are gambling on your skill.

But all the skill in the world won't help if you don't get the right (theoretically) random questions.

As you said, there's a pretty good gap between whether I think it's gambling vs whether anyone could consider it gambling.

[Logan]

It's not gambling. It's similar to fantasy football in that you're putting in X dollars to win X^Y dollars, and that has legally been defined as a game of skill and therefore not considered gambling.

[Surtt]

Is the question do YOU consider it gambling or COULD it be considered gambling? I doubt many people here would call it gambling, but I can easily see where a very strict religious person would avoid it like the plague. You are betting some of your money that you can outperform others so that you can win a large amount more. You are gambling on your skill.

Like the stock market?

[claphamsa]

Like the stock market?
I would say the stock market is a lot closer to gambling than the World series of poker. If you actually KNOW anything its insider trading.

[Radii]

If I bet someone $500 that I can beat them in a 100 meter race, aren't we by definition gambling on who will win the race? Our skill at running fast determines the outcome, but we're still gambling money on said race, no?

[jbergey22]

It's not gambling. It's similar to fantasy football in that you're putting in X dollars to win X^Y dollars, and that has legally been defined as a game of skill and therefore not considered gambling.

So fantasy football is NOT gambling however betting on a game in which two teams you watch play a lot and know really well IS gambling.

I'd love to know who comes up with these explanations.

[Surtt]

I would say the stock market is a lot closer to gambling than the World series of poker. If you actually KNOW anything its insider trading.

I have seen lots of arguments about if poker is gambling or not.

[Shkspr]

You should ask him if he'd like to come. If he objects to the money angle, let him play as a team that neither puts money into the kitty nor is eligible to draw money out. Trivia's still fun for bragging rights.

[jbergey22]

If I bet someone $500 that I can beat them in a 100 meter race, aren't we by definition gambling on who will win the race? Our skill at running fast determines the outcome, but we're still gambling money on said race, no?

IMO this is gambling.

Isnt something like this the exact reason religion is against gambling. Taking advantage of the weak.

Or we could look at is this way. The more skillful runner is using skill to win this therefore doing nothing wrong while the less skillful runner is depending on luck to try and win therefore he is gambling:)

[Surtt]

You should ask him if he'd like to come. If he objects to the money angle, let him play as a team that neither puts money into the kitty nor is eligible to draw money out. Trivia's still fun for bragging rights.

Isn't pride a sin too?

[MJ4H]

Going down a little tangent here... the dictionary definition of gambling is "to play a game for money or property" or "to bet on an uncertain outcome."

Depends on your dictionary, I guess:

gam⋅ble

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See web results for gambling (http://ask.reference.com/web?q=gambling&o=100049)

See images of gambling (http://ask.reference.com/pictures?q=gambling&o=100049)

–verb (used without object) <table class="luna-Ent"> <tbody><tr> <td class="dnindex" width="35">1.</td> <td>to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">2.</td> <td>to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance: to gamble on a toss of the dice. </td></tr></tbody></table>
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gambling?db=dictionary

[MikeVic]

Yeah, I agree that I don't consider it gambling, I just mean that you COULD make a case for it as gambling I think, and that's just because money is involved... trivia isn't gambling normally. My "knowledge" on this comes from The Simpsons, when Flanders' house was destroyed and he says he doesn't have insurance since it's a form of gambling. :p

But then again, I don't see how this could be gambling and Bingo isn't, but Bingo is often run in churches, no? As you can probably tell, I don't give much thought as to what is and isn't gambling since I don't really care.

[Radii]

hah, interesting. I was quoting m-w.com.

[Shkspr]

Isn't pride a sin too?

Is it unseemly?

[MJ4H]

I don't think betting on winning a race with someone is gambling, personally.

And I don't think pride is a sin, but excessive pride is.

[Surtt]

I don't think betting on winning a race with someone is gambling, personally.

And I don't think pride is a sin, but excessive pride is.

I was joking.
Need to remember the ;)

[Rizon]

Depends on your dictionary, I guess:

gam⋅ble

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See web results for gambling (http://ask.reference.com/web?q=gambling&o=100049)

See images of gambling (http://ask.reference.com/pictures?q=gambling&o=100049)

–verb (used without object) <table class="luna-Ent"> <tbody><tr> <td class="dnindex" width="35">1.</td> <td>to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">2.</td> <td>to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance: to gamble on a toss of the dice. </td></tr></tbody></table>
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gambling?db=dictionary

hah, interesting. I was quoting m-w.com.

Yeah, I looked through about a dozen dictionaries and there were multiple definitions for gambling.

[Rizon]

We found 30 dictionaries with English definitions that include the word gambling:
Click on the first link on a line below to go directly to a page where "gambling" is defined.

General (20 matching dictionaries)
1. gambling: Encarta® World English Dictionary, North American Edition [home, info]
2. gambling: Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 11th Edition [home, info]
3. gambling: Cambridge International Dictionary of English [home, info]
4. Gambling: Wiktionary [home, info]
5. gambling: Dictionary.com [home, info]
6. gambling: UltraLingua English Dictionary [home, info]
7. gambling: Cambridge Dictionary of American English [home, info]
8. Gambling: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia [home, info]
9. Gambling: Online Plain Text English Dictionary [home, info]
10. gambling: Rhymezone [home, info]
11. Gambling: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary [home, info]
12. gambling: Webster's 1828 Dictionary [home, info]
13. gambling: Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition [home, info]
14. Gambling: Encarta® Online Encyclopedia, North American Edition [home, info]
15. gambling: Free Dictionary [home, info]
16. gambling: Mnemonic Dictionary [home, info]
17. gambling: WordNet 1.7 Vocabulary Helper [home, info]
18. gambling: LookWAYup Translating Dictionary/Thesaurus [home, info]
19. gambling: Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (Encyclopedia.com) [home, info]
20. gambling: Dictionary/thesaurus [home, info]

Business (2 matching dictionaries)
21. gambling: Legal dictionary [home, info]
22. gambling: BusinessDictionary.com [home, info]

Computing (1 matching dictionary)
23. gambling: Encyclopedia [home, info]

Medicine (4 matching dictionaries)
24. gambling: Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary [home, info]
25. Gambling: Medical Dictionary [home, info]
26. gambling: online medical dictionary [home, info]
27. gambling: Medical dictionary [home, info]

Miscellaneous (1 matching dictionary)
28. Gambling: Brilliant Dream Dictionary [home, info]

Religion (1 matching dictionary)
29. Gambling: Catholic Encyclopedia [home, info]

Science (1 matching dictionary)
30. Gambling: Biological Sciences Dictionary [home, info]

[jbergey22]

I don't think betting on winning a race with someone is gambling, personally.

And I don't think pride is a sin, but excessive pride is.

How about betting car titles in a car race?

[SteveMax58]

I dunno, the question was do I think its gambling. Gambling doesn't carry a negative connotation for me in any way. You're wagering $5 for a chance to win much more if you win a game. That's gambling to me. But there is no reason that should be a bad thing.


+1

[MJ4H]

How about betting car titles in a car race?

Which factors do you think would be different in the first race example and yours? (honest question)

[jbergey22]

Which factors do you think would be different in the first race example and yours? (honest question)

In some defintions under the gambling term. They use property exchange in the definition.

In my opinion there is no right or wrong to the answer to this question.

Walking on a icy sidewalk could be considered gambling.

The debate has shifted now to whether or not the church would approve of this type of activity.

[Lathum]

I say not gambling for 2 reasons I haven't seen yet.

1. Legally it isn't gambling, Logan touched on this a bit but if the law considered it gambling the bar wouldn't be allowed to do it.

2. I am assuming the house takes no cut. If all the money is being exchanged between players than it is a contest. In theory the same 100 people that play this every week could pass around the same $5 per person forever and keep playing.

[MJ4H]

Oh, ok. I haven't seen any of those definitions. They are pretty much the same example in my book.

[wade moore]

If you asked if it was illegal, I might have a different opinion.

I took it to be a broader question of is it "gambling". To me it clearly is. You're playing a game for money, that's gambling imo.

[lcjjdnh]

It's sad that we have allowed lawmakers and fundamentalists to make this an issue anyways. So a lottery, horse racing, bingo, etc are prefectly fine but I am supposed to feel like I am not a productive member of society if I want to lay 50 bucks on tonight's Texas-Alabama game while not living in the state of Nevada? Who cares? The people who enjoy it should hang out with people who enjoy it and the people who don't shouldn't.

Unrelated to the topic at hand, but this reminded me of a quote from Jimmy Breslin's the Good Rat

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="BLOCKNOTE.NET"><title></title><style>BODY { FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma; FONT-SIZE:10pt } P { FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma; FONT-SIZE:10pt } DIV { FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma; FONT-SIZE:10pt } TD { FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma; FONT-SIZE:10pt } </style><basefont face="Tahoma" size="2">I do know that illegal gambling, which once was a glorius fountain of cash for the outfit, now is a government-owned lottery machine that buzzes in every newsstand and deli in the city. Years ago the state looked upon gambling as a low vice, a depravity; and those who profited from it were no better than cheap pimps and deserved years behind bars. THat opinion held right up until the government took it over, at which it becaome a civic virtue to lose the rent and all other money you didn't have on rigged games of chance.

[MIJB#19]

Define gambling.

Putting money on the Colts to beat the Raiders isn't exactly some random luck event. Heck, the odds to win the bet are better than your odds to finish college with the degree you were hoping to end up with.

However, putting money on the Raiders to beat the Colts, that really just means you're desperate and hoping to hit the jackpot.



In this case at hand, it's even more of a grey area. It's definately a gambling kind of situation if you're competing for the first time, because you have no idea what the competition is like, neither the format nor the opponents. But after three or four appearances, having found out what type of questions are asked, noticing the same bunch of people showing up, with the same couple of people winning it all and finding out your own ranking is always in the middle of the pack, you ended up having a pretty good idea on how well you will do and whether you'll be throwing money away or will be contending for the grand prize.


But gambling laws aren't taking into account whether you have favorable odds. They're just about money in, money out and some subjective feel for whatever is and what isn't a lop-sided event.

If you want to convince the people to join, try to find out whether they are sports fans as basically every sports event has a similar format and there's harldy anybody claiming the Indianapolis Colts are gambling addicts because they keep coming back every season.

[Lathum]

You should ask the guy if his church or any affiliates have ever have a carnival or bingo for fundraising.

[AENeuman]

If it is then Final Jeopardy would be considered gambling too.

[Passacaglia]

If it is then Final Jeopardy would be considered gambling too.

I believe that in Final Jeopardy, you're officially just dealing with points, and they don't become dollars until you win.

EDIT: But I could be thinking of another show.

[Karlifornia]

I say it's definitely gambling, but does that bother you? I, too, never understood the negative connotations associated with "gambling" and "gamblers" or "degenerate gamblers".

Gambling can be fun. I rarely do it, but that's because I usually never have any money anyways.

[CraigSca]

Really, it doesn't matter whether we define it as gambling (I would consider it gambling, but not "bad" gambling, whatever that is) or whether the law says it's okay or not. Ultimately it's up to the guy you're inviting and whether putting $5 into a trivia contest is considered gambling by his religion's definition. There's no harm in asking him to come along.

[CraigSca]

Personally, my definition of gambling comes from what the church/mosque/synagogue is trying to prevent - e.g. an addiction where that person could become a slave to the game/event resulting in some pretty awful circumstances.

For instance, could going to the casino become an addiction and the guy loses his mortgage? Absolutely. Could the guy start betting football games and find himself losing his shorts? Yes. Could the guy become addicted to $5 trivia and find he can't afford the next round of appetizers? Maybe, but doubtful.

To me, while it is gambling, it's harmless.

[Rizon]

Anyone willing to place bets on whether or not this dude ends up being part of the Trivia Game?

[MikeVic]

Personally, my definition of gambling comes from what the church/mosque/synagogue is trying to prevent - e.g. an addiction where that person could become a slave to the game/event resulting in some pretty awful circumstances.

For instance, could going to the casino become an addiction and the guy loses his mortgage? Absolutely. Could the guy start betting football games and find himself losing his shorts? Yes. Could the guy become addicted to $5 trivia and find he can't afford the next round of appetizers? Maybe, but doubtful.

To me, while it is gambling, it's harmless.

What about those $10,000 one-question trivia games? Isn't that what Arenas was playing in the locker room?

[cthomer5000]

To me this is pretty clearly gambling, not sure how there's any way around that.

Whereas to me this is only gambling in the most anally technical sense. Marathon runners pay entry fees. Are they gambling?

[bhlloy]

Whereas to me this is only gambling in the most anally technical sense. Marathon runners pay entry fees. Are they gambling?

+1. Is it gambling to pay to enter a sports team in a contest with a prize at the end? Is the MLB a gambling organization because the team gets a cash bonus for winning the World Series and players get a cut of the prize money?

To me this is a contest where you are paying an entry fee to compete, the contest is (for the most part) based on skill and there is a prize at the end.

[Logan]

Unrelated...am I the only one who sees the text size in this thread smaller than every other thread?

[Lathum]

Unrelated...am I the only one who sees the text size in this thread smaller than every other thread?

no, I noticed it also. We should all throw in $5 and whoever figures out why first wins.

[sabotai]

Unrelated...am I the only one who sees the text size in this thread smaller than every other thread?

I thought it looked weird. Looks like a different font than the text in other threads.

[Logan]

no, I noticed it also. We should all throw in $5 and whoever figures out why first wins.

Skydog is gonna be a rich man.

[Groundhog]

I play trivia every week on Wednesday nights. We don't have to pay a cent to enter, and the winning 3 teams all get cash prizes (1st place gets $30, and considering we usually have 6 or 7 people on our team, that's not much!). I guess technically that's gambling too, but none of us would think of it that way.

[RainMaker]

To get even more analytical, doesn't gambling require losing something of value to you? If I bet a beer on a football game, is it the same as if I bet my weekly paycheck on it? To truly be gambling, don't you need to have something at stake that matters to you? At $5, the money would seem to be an afterthought. Therefore, on the grounds of religion, I don't think it would be something seen as a sin.

[boberot]

To get less analytical, the consideration for me begins and ends with the question "Could this be considered gambling?"

I think the answer to that is clearly "yes."

That being said, I think any time you are staking something of value on an outcome, it is gambling / betting / wagering / etc.

Every year when I fill out paperwork for health insurance / life insurance, I feel like it's the biggest gamble I'll do all year.

[MikeVic]

Is the font in this thread a bit off for anyone else?

[Lathum]

So is participating in a PGA event gambling? As far as I know the players supply their own caddies, travel, etc... so there is certainly an investment on their part with no guarantee for a positive return.

[Rizon]

Is the font in this thread a bit off for anyone else?

Sweet, I thought it was my excessive masturbation.

[DanGarion]

I think a key element of gambling must be that you stand to lose something if you don't win.
Like an arm?

[DanGarion]

Games of chance are considered gambling, games of skill not so.

Hence heated debates about poker, since there are elements of both.

So if I play pool and bet someone I will beat them, that's not gambling?

[RainMaker]

So if I play pool and bet someone I will beat them, that's not gambling?
That's the case that a lot of poker sites such as Full Tilt are making to skirt laws.

[Lathum]

So if I play pool and bet someone I will beat them, that's not gambling?

Not if you are the better player. They may beat you occasionally but in the long run if you are more skilled you can't lose.

That's the reason why the average Joe can't fathom poker is a skill game. They can only look at on a hand by hand or session by session basis as opposed to how you have to look at the long term results. I can sit down and win money from Phil Ivey in a single session, maybe even in 10 or 100 sessions, but long term I have no chance to finish ahead of him.

[DanGarion]

I dunno, the question was do I think its gambling. Gambling doesn't carry a negative connotation for me in any way. You're wagering $5 for a chance to win much more if you win a game. That's gambling to me. But there is no reason that should be a bad thing.



This reminds me of a disagreement I had on blog with a "CPA". Tax Tips: Do I have to report my gambling income? (http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2008/02/26/tax-tips-do-i-have-to-report-my-gambling-income/)

[MJ4H]

So if I play pool and bet someone I will beat them, that's not gambling?

Nah. There is a difference between betting and gambling.

[weegeebored]

Depends on your dictionary, I guess:

gam⋅ble

<table class="luna-Ent"> <tbody><tr> <td class="dnindex" width="35">1.</td> <td>to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dnindex" width="35">2.</td> <td>to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance: to gamble on a toss of the dice. </td></tr></tbody></table>
It's only gambling if you don't consider a trivia game a test of skill, and that you do consider the random assignment of questions as "chance".

And if someone wants to argue "could" it be considered gambling then I would just reply so is driving your car as you gamble with your life on the roads. How ridiculously far do you want to take the definition of gambling?

[Passacaglia]

Nah. There is a difference between betting and gambling.

Maybe this is some of the hangup. What's the difference?

[Celeval]

Not gambling.