AdSense and "Skill Based" game sites.

[tomequin]

Is it against the TOS to place a banner ad for a "skill based" game site on the same page as adsence? The links are available through a reputiable 3rd party (CJ) but I was under the impression that online gambling was illegal in the US. They claim that skill based gaming is not gambling and that makes it's legal in most states.
Would placing the banner cause any problems with the folks at AdSence? We're not a gaming site in any shape or form and I think my visitor base might be interested but I don't want to break any rules.
Thanks

[woop01]

Do you mean poker?

[jomaxx]

Poker, backgammon, pool, golf... People bet on lots of "skill-based" games. IMO, if you risk money in order to win money, it's clearly gambling.

[tomequin]

Of course I mean Poker. I was just under the impression that online gambling was now illegal and that Google would pull the account from a site that participated in illegal activity.
Does using the term "skill based game" instead of "online gambling" make it legal or is it just to much of a grey area to bother with?
Thanks for any imput on this.

[frakilk]

From Google AdSense Program Policies:
[google.com...]

Sites displaying Google ads may not include:
.
.
* Gambling or casino-related content
.
.

Don't chance it IMO.

[woop01]

tomequin, personally, I think Google is smart enough to see through the spin and realize it's gambling.

Just take a second look at how hard you tried to avoid calling it poker in your first post.

[tomequin]

Woop, your right. If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, most likely it's a duck.
I guess I got caught up in the payment they offer and had a hard time seeing anything else but how to place the banner.
I'm still curious about the legal definition and difference between online gambling and skill games though. I'm just not curious enough to take a chance with the AdSense money.
Thanks again.

[tomequin]

When I said I was curious about the definition and difference between online gambling and skill games. I mean, online gambling is illegal but skill based games are not? They both walk and sound like the same duck.

(Oops. Just found the owner edit button. Learn something everyday.)

[Fuzzyfish1000]

We did some work for a client in this area a few years back.

They paid for a gambling lawyer to go over their proposal, just to be sure - £400 / hour, and the first thing they asked for was a coke when we got there. Reckon that was the most expensive coke they ever drunk (the chap took 3 mins sorting it out - £20!).

Anyways, the long and short of it was, if the 'game' had an element of skill in it, ie, they had to answer a question in order to be entered, then it wasn't considered a "Lottery". The UK laws on lotterys are different to skill-based games, and more tricky to deal with - which is why our client didn't want to fall into this category, although, essentially, that was what they were doing.

I don't think what they were doing fell into the category of gambling, as there was a prize rather than money as the outcome, if you won. I think if the outcome is money, it's gambling, and there's no way out of that one.