No Prize Money for Amateur Players?!

victorl said:

The Japanese Pool & Billiards Association has announced that starting in 2016, amateurs finishing in the money in the open and pro tour events will not be receiving any money or cash, just a "prize" of their choosing. WTF!? Entry isn't cheap and I expect to get paid if I fight through a field of top amateurs and pros to get into the money. My friends and I (and many others) are boycotting these events until they get ther heads out of their a$$e$. Let's see how the like it when all the "dead" money is taken out of the tournaments.

Rant over.

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What's the prize pool? Can you win a car from a sponsor?

Or is it just cues and gloves and nonsense?

Amateur status

victorl said:

The Japanese Pool & Billiards Association has announced that starting in 2016, amateurs finishing in the money in the open and pro tour events will not be receiving any money or cash, just a "prize" of their choosing. WTF!? Entry isn't cheap and I expect to get paid if I fight through a field of top amateurs and pros to get into the money. My friends and I (and many others) are boycotting these events until they get ther heads out of their a$$e$. Let's see how the like it when all the "dead" money is taken out of the tournaments.

Rant over.

Click to expand...

They may be trying to protect amateurs from being disqualified from any amateur sports events such as college competition or the Olympics..

When I was young, if a person won even $1 in a bowling league, they were disqualified from playing as an amateur in any sport. The US has eased up on such rules, but I would imagine every nation has their own rules regarding amateur status.

Donny Lutz said:

They may be trying to protect amateurs from being disqualified from any amateur sports events such as college competition or the Olympics..

When I was young, if a person won even $1 in a bowling league, they were disqualified from playing as an amateur in any sport. The US has eased up on such rules, but I would imagine every nation has their own rules regarding amateur status.

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Donny,

The Olympics are full of professionals now. Taking the moneys earned by amateurs away from them allows the promoters to pay the remaining professionals more. Or, if they are less than up front, more income for them. How else do you distribute the remaining money? Donate it to the sanctioning body? My guess is your scenario only works for golf. It's a character builder. You know honesty et al. Us pool players don't know anything about that :shocked: .

Lyn

Donny Lutz said:

They may be trying to protect amateurs from being disqualified from any amateur sports events such as college competition or the Olympics..

When I was young, if a person won even $1 in a bowling league, they were disqualified from playing as an amateur in any sport. The US has eased up on such rules, but I would imagine every nation has their own rules regarding amateur status.

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Wish someone would have told me that when I was younger. I wasn't allowed to bowl on my high school team because I had already been competing in "adult" leagues and got money at the end of the year.

I don't know if the rules are the same in bowling now but I know later on while I worked in a bowling center we started letting teens enter and the disclaimer was put on that they could select a prize (normally a bowling ball) or cash which would disqualify them from any future school bowling events.

victorl said:

The Japanese Pool & Billiards Association has announced that starting in 2016, amateurs finishing in the money in the open and pro tour events will not be receiving any money or cash, just a "prize" of their choosing. WTF!? Entry isn't cheap and I expect to get paid if I fight through a field of top amateurs and pros to get into the money. My friends and I (and many others) are boycotting these events until they get ther heads out of their a$$e$. Let's see how the like it when all the "dead" money is taken out of the tournaments.

Rant over.

Click to expand...

I thought the world was over that bullshit.
I caught it from the other side when I was 17...we had a high school golf tournament.
....I won...the guy who came second was 18 strokes behind me.
They refused to award me the trophy because I had worked at a proshop since I was 12.

I got something out of it though....my phys-ed teacher used to hound me 'cause I was a
poolplayer....he was big strong jock...but I could out drive him by 50 yards....he became a fan.

I wonder if they are modeling their rules regarding amateurs from horse showing? My wife is into showing horses and that is how it is, in their world- amateurs are limited in what they can win (money-wise).

I think Golf does that too?

I lived and played in Japan for close to 20 years, and I remember that the Japan Open had a funny rule in place where amateurs couldn't receive the full payout. I was told it had to do with the way Japanese gambling laws were set up. Same for any other pro sports event in Japan where amateurs could compete. Golf, tennis, bowling, ect.
Always thought the gambling and prostitution laws there were extremely conservative on the one hand, yet extremely easy to circumvent on the other. Examples I can think of were pachinko parlors completely legal because money winnings aren't exchanged on the premises. You exchange your balls or coins for token 'gifts' which are then technically 'sold' or exchanged for hard cash in the parking lot or down the street.
The yoshiwara red light or soapland district is completely legal according to Japanese prostitution laws because the customer is paying for the service of being bathed by a sub contracted woman, and whatever happens in the room between the male client and the sub contracted woman is not described in the service menus, and is a private matter between two consenting adults.

That goofy gambling law is exactly why I absolutely refused to win the Japan Open!..................Three times!

Dave

victorl said:

The Japanese Pool & Billiards Association has announced that starting in 2016, amateurs finishing in the money in the open and pro tour events will not be receiving any money or cash, just a "prize" of their choosing. WTF!? Entry isn't cheap and I expect to get paid if I fight through a field of top amateurs and pros to get into the money. My friends and I (and many others) are boycotting these events until they get ther heads out of their a$$e$. Let's see how the like it when all the "dead" money is taken out of the tournaments.

Rant over.

Click to expand...

This is more or less how golf does it. If someone is "dead money" aren't they by definition unconcerned with the tournament pay out? The way I've always used the term is dead money players know they don't have a serious shot so they are just playing for the experience.

What is the motive? I know in Japan, Pachinko parlors cannot exchange winnings (silver balls) for cash. Direct exchange for cash is considered gambling, and therefore illegal. So they give you those schlockly prizes, which you take around the corner to exchange for cash.