Before when backgammon was discussed, threads were in the "Other Gambling Games" forum. Now there is a new backgammon forum, but again, this forum is located under "General Gambling".

There have been many discussions as to whether poker is gambling, so how about backgammon? On one side, there is the luck of the dice, and thus it could be argued that backgammon is a game of chance. On the other hand, for each move, there are many sub-optimal moves that can be made by those less skilled, so it could be argued that backgammon is a game of skill, and that's without even considering cube play.

So, how should backgammon be classified? If backgammon is gambling, is it actually legal to run a backgammon club, play chouettes and organise club and national tournaments? What's the chance of a club or tournament being raided by the authorities?

considering bg clubs run across the country seemingly cop free...id have to set the % of bg clubs being raided at next to nill!

But a major tournament was raided and closed down in New Jersey in the 1980s. I think that playing backgammon for money is illegal but the authorities choose not to police it as it is not usually associated with criminals or other crimes.

I think that's basically right. There have been a couple of state court cases (Georgia & Oregon) ruling backgammon a game of skill and hence legal. A bigger case in NJ in the 80s (Paul Magriel testified in that one) ruled it a game of luck and hence illegal.

The Ace Point Club in NY operated as a backgammon club with money games in the open for many years with no problems. After it allowed poker games, the police shut it down within a year or two. It really just depends on your local police and what they take exception to.

Furthermore on this issue, match (tournament) play seems to be tolerated yet money play (eg. chouette) could be frowned upon by the law.

It seems it would be hard for law enforcement to go after backgammon without also criminalizing bridge and even scrabble tournaments, which are in some way too "respectable" to attack.

You might say the same applies to poker tournaments but I think they have a different image. And in a matter like this it's not going to come down to the letter or the spirit of the law but to the personal prejudices of a police chief or a judge.

Bridge enjoys a special legal exception in most states. Although it depends somewhat on the deal of the cards, duplicate bridge is held to be a game of skill and legal, like chess and checkers. Contract bridge, on the other hand, is classified as a game of chance. (I'm not a bridge player, but that's my understanding from a long time ago.)

I've never heard of any sort of problem with scrabble, even when it's played for money, as in NY game clubs.

didn't knew they even exist