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Every game of skill has a dimension of luck in it--the instrumentality of victory is NEVER entirely in the player's hand--just as most games of luck (excluding slot machines and the like, which aren't really games) involve a dimension of skill.

The problem is that the law is stupid, doubly stupid since the state now sanctions a contest of pure luck.

I agree the law is stupid.

What games are influenced least by luck? Maybe golf? Darts? Bowling? Billiards?

And again, the state shows its hypocrisy.

Private gambling such as poker isn't just banned - it's a criminal offense. Yet the state will gladly sell you a lottery ticket based on a "game of chance." I honestly can't tell the difference.

Bingo is legal but poker is not? Bingo is a game of skill and poker a game of chance? Help me understand!

Not golf for sure. Wind shifts, unlucky (or lucky) bounces off of cart paths (and trees, rakes,etc.), greens that never roll perfectly true, geese than honk on your backswing. You don't play golf, I take it.

Darts and bowling, yes, but less for bowling, since there are lucky bounces. Billiards no. Because even though you have a great deal of control over your shots, you have little control over the break and hence the layout of the table. Offhand, I'd say darts is the closest to a luck-free sport I can come up with, since you control everything.

It's total hypocrisy.

Notice the state only decided to ban video poker machines at convenience stores when it enacted its lottery -- eliminating competition.

And it's tried to limit as much as possible the casino in Cherokee -- same reason. No live games up there, only machines.

And then there are the Lumbees. If they ever win tribal recognition, you can be sure they won't be allowed to have their own casino. Right in the middle of the state, it would suck up too many lottery dollars.

Well, buying a lottery ticket is just as much fun as playing poker, isn't it? I'm surprised ESPN doesn't broadcast the powerball drawings. Exciting!

I'm surprised ESPN doesn't broadcast the powerball drawings. Exciting!* Doug

They did Doug! You must have miss the NFL draft this past weekend!

As your unknown agent in this matter. I had you down a young flashing running back from Greensboro High Point Tech running the 40 in 2.1 words per minute.

You were finally pick in the 95 th round of the draft and you must report to the Baghdad Hummers after the surge fails. Be sure to bring lots of pads and tape for the tryout camp in July.

udge Ann Marie Calabria writes for the court. "Although skills such as knowledge of human psychology, bluffing, and the ability to calculate and analyze odds make it more likely for skilled players to defeat novices, novices may yet prevail with a simple run of luck. No amount of skill can change a deuce into an ace. Thus, the instrumentality for victory is not entirely in the player's hand."* Doug

Oh my! Judge Ann Marie lecturing us on a game of skill after her last election for Supreme Court was rigged by Unfair Judge Poker players from the Democrat party. Boy was she buff in the end by political cheats in a game of political skill.

If they ever win tribal recognition, you can be sure they won't be allowed to have their own casino.*Doug

Doug! The Congressional agreedment between Lumbees and the federal goverment calls for the Lumbees to never be in the Gaming business. To show you how much trust exists between tribes. Heath Shuler voted against the agreedment due to the pressure from the Cherokee Nation. I would love to see the treaty being broken by the Lumbees on the first day that feds give them Nation Status by opening a floating crap game on the North Carolina and South Carolina state line at the funland " South of Border" operation.

Do you think Bush will send in the 1 st Cav to enforce the treaty after he declares martial law?

"What games are influenced least by luck?"

I vote for chess - theoretically, you could calculate every possible move of every piece on the board and therefore pick a winning stratgey.

You're absolutely right, although if you were playing against me you'd be the lucky beneficiary of my dumb moves.

I don't have a problem with this. I'd hate for North Carolina to become Las Vegas and I'd hate for Las Vegas to become North Carolina. I don't know that most poker players are rallying behind this or even know about it because for most of us, it's a casual affair.

I can safely say it hasn't ever come up on a saturday night.

The state isn't telling you what to do behind closed doors and in my opinion they're not taking away any life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. It's a slippery slope when we start getting all philosphical about games of chance. I was all for the lottery. I grew up with the lottery and ignored it. That said, I'd never be for state sanctioned gambling, that's just not the North Carolina I'd want.

z, isn't the lottery state-run gambling? The state's just assuring itself a monopoloy on legal gambling.

Sure, people play poker for money. They're just subject to being arrested for it and charged with a misdemeanor.

For mostly rural economies, I think that the lottery does more good than harm with the money it raises. Sometimes there's not a lot of alternatives. That's why I don't have a problem with it and I only played it once in a blue moon. I don't have a problem with raffles either, if it's for a good cause.

For the person spending that lottery money, I think that's already play money, candy bar and soft drink money mostly. But with lottery tickets, like candy bars, there will always be some who like them too much. If the state wants to regulate morality, it should more heavily tax cigarettes. (which several poorer rural economies also do)

The lottery to me is a lesser degree of state sanctioned gambling. It's nothing for North Carolina to build its economy on. It is different than the crazed environment of casino gambling, squaring off against somebody at a table. I feel like there's a lot of oversight that would be needed in that instance, and it would soak up a lot of resources that could be better used elsehwere.

I don't know what analyses have been done to date to determine which parts of the state are benefiting most from the lottery in terms of funds received compared to residents' spending.

I will venture to guess that the casino in Cherokee has provided more economic benefit for that community than the lottery has provided for any community in the state -- by far. I'm not a proponent of casinos by any means, but they represent real economic development.