Finally, some good news on the legal front.
Though they may be an ocean away, the nation of New Zealand has fired a shot which could reverberate through the poker landscape. In a recent decision by his Honor David J. Harvey, advertisements for .net poker sites “are not promotions for gambling operators, and that poker tournaments themselves are not gambling but a form of competition.”
The lawsuit, brought by the country’s Department of Internal Affairs, argued that many of the advertisements for PokerStars.net (a free-play site) promoted the real-money games of Pokerstars.com. These televisions ads were also thought to encourage New Zealander’s to gamble overseas.
The judge’s findings are as follows:
“Firstly, the nature of the material in the advertisements made it clear that what was being advertised was free websites that do not involve gambling. Secondly, the .com website is not mentioned at any time. Unless the user knew of the existence of the .com website, no association could be made between PokerStars and that particular website. A third reason for rejecting the suggestion that .net and .com sites involve a distinction without a difference lies in the very internet itself….the navigational realities of the internet mean that there is a very significant difference between web addresses of any nature, be they .net, .com and .org even although they may be associated with a similar domain name.”
So, the argument that .net ads automatically draw attention to the real-money activities of the .com site has been legally dismissed in New Zealand, at least. Also encouraging was his ruling on the APPT Poker Tournaments, which found that participation in organized poker tournaments does not constitute gambling.
“I do not agree that the way in which the APPT is structured amounts to gambling,” says the judge. “It does not involve the payment of consideration based upon the outcome of the game. It involves the splitting of a sum of money derived from the payment of entry fees between the winning players. Although poker is usually associated with some form of gambling, because players do not make side bets on the outcome of each hand that element of wagering upon the outcome, or paying consideration or a stake, is not present.”
His Honor made use of the advice from several industry experts, including PokerNews’ Damon Rasheed and Professor Roger Marshall.
This comes as great news for poker practitioners across the globe. It’s a trend we’d like to see continue, allowing poker to maintain its position as one of the world’s most universal games.