Czech Poker Players Seeking Sport Recognition From Government

Most places in the world are fighting their governments to show that poker is a game of skill. Czech people, however, are taking that one step further. They are trying to get poker recognized as a sport.

The Czech Association of Poker Clubs and its members have been putting pressure on the Finance Ministry to get poker recognized as a sport. This comes at a time in the world when most poker players are simply trying to get their governments to recognize that poker is a game of skill.

60,000 Czech people have admitted to playing poker. Roughly 1,000 of those players are members of nineteen official clubs in the country. The players are unhappy with the idea that poker has not yet been recognized as a sport.

"Ministry officials don't understand that poker, in all its complexity, is not gambling as much as a skill game in which good players win and bad players lose. This conservative attitude and unfamiliarity has turned into doubts," said Karel Kruska, Chairman of the Hot Springs Poker Club Teplice.

While their battle is slightly different because they are looking for sport status, it is similar to what is going on in the United States. In America, the government does not even entertain the idea that online poker gambling exists.

August 28, 2008
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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