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Are games of skill for cash legal?

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Submerged

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Minnesota.

I have read that operating online lotteries are illegal (or at least way too difficult to really consider), but what about minigames that award cash prizes?

An example of one of these minigames would be called "BreakOut", which goes like this:

Two players agree to play for a certain dollar amount each (chosen by them, for example $3 each). Once the game begins, they each have a half an hour to click a "Breakout" button and try to escape from jail. If both players try to escape within 30 seconds of eathother, they make too much noise and they both lose. However, if one person escapes and the other doesn't try until at least 30 seconds after, that player wins double his money (perhaps minus a small administrative fee).

Would this be considered legal? It is partly chance, but relies more on psychology (sort of a "game theory" application). It would require either a credit card, or a Paypal, so participants would have to be at least 18 to play. Thanks for any help :)

-Alex
 


Some Random Guy

Senior Member
They get away with it by having their servers and company offices located outside of the US. They can no longer accept US credit cards. They can no longer have Firepay or similar services do money transfers to them. They can only advertize their "free" gambling sites in the US, but those free sites can then link to the real gambling sites.

And of course if any of their company executives enter the US, even on an airline layover to another country, they can (and have been) arrested and thrown in Federal prison.

P.S. Forgot to mention - its also illegal for you to gamble on those sites if you are in the US.
 

Submerged

Junior Member
News to me there. Well, I only played on the free ones anyways, but now I know to stay away from the real ones. Thanks :)
 

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