Poker is NOT a game of chance

 Poker Is Not a Game of Chance

A Gujarat high court division bench challenged the order. It declared poker illegal and gambling illegal. The IPA argued that it is a game based on skill and not luck.

Justice R H Shukla ruled earlier this month that poker is a game involving chance and should be treated as gambling. The Chief Justice, headed by a division bench, issued notice Thursday to the state government and other parties concerned and set hearings on the petition for January 23, 2019. This date is likely to see arguments by the division bench regarding the demand to stop the single judge bench's order. "The judgment does not rely on data from the game. It instead focuses on totally unfounded and unrelated principles like the Bhagavad Gita. This leads to the wrong conclusion that poker could be considered gambling."

The appeal also questioned the single judge bench's reliance upon "a perceived societal affect of gambling by bringing up comparisons to sports betting and then proceeding with the discussion on the evils and evils of gambling as described in the Rigveda or Manu and completely ignoring poker being a game involving a significant degree of skill."

The IPA has asked the court not to grant the single-judge order and declare poker as falling under the exception for games involving skill that is prescribed by Section 13 under the Bombay Gambling Act. Poker Is NOT a Game of Chance