tournaments and gambling
- Thread starter cuefeene
- Start date
It's all in your perception. I look at tournament play like this. I pay a small fee for the right to play pool as long as I can before I lose. If I do better than the other players, I win a cash prize. If I don't, I got to play pool, much like I would if I paid for table time.
Steve
Steve
cuefeene said:is playing in tournaments considered gambling? if so, is it any tournament or just the kind that have entry fees? what i really want to know is, if i play in a tournament would i be gambling? please explain.
I've heard this question many times over the years. I don't feel it is gambling.
Can I ask why you are so concerned about this? Just curious?
Why exactly does it matter to try to establish it as one or the other? can't it just be left in that grey area?
My guess is either:
- taxes
- a bitter spouse
- a pissed off bookie
- a pissed off gamblers anonymouse sponsor
- all of the above
My guess is either:
- taxes
- a bitter spouse
- a pissed off bookie
- a pissed off gamblers anonymouse sponsor
- all of the above
sporting event
A pool tournament is a sporting event, just like most other tournaments. Like most tournaments, you usually pay an entry fee. However a tournament does not necessarily have an entree fee. Many pool halls have small purse or trophy tourneys just to get people in the door. Since you are not risking any loss you can not possibly be gambling. I find it very easy to move from there to tourneys with entry fees are still not gambling. I have paid thousands in entry fees for events of all kinds. Would you consider a rifle or pistol match gambling? How about stock car racing?
However, many rifle matches have a cash option much like a Calcutta. This is clearly gambling as it is not a condition of entry into the event, likewise, buying into a Calcutta is normally gambling. However even buying into a Calcutta at the minimum bid may be a condition of entry for some pool tournaments and then this becomes a condition of entry and not actually gambling unless you bid in the Calcutta.
Having muddied the waters adequately, I will try to simplify. Anything that is a requirement of entry into an event is not gambling. Putting up extra money in an optional Calcutta or wagering among individuals is gambling. Calcutta's are generally legal, usually being considered private wagers between individuals rather than organized gambling since the establishment running the event receives no part of a Calcutta.
Hopefully this answers your question. Without knowing the reason behind your question I went into a lot of detail. My opinion, there is no religious or ethical reason not to compete in tournaments of any kind, other than for members in a few sects that are against competitions in general.
Hu
A pool tournament is a sporting event, just like most other tournaments. Like most tournaments, you usually pay an entry fee. However a tournament does not necessarily have an entree fee. Many pool halls have small purse or trophy tourneys just to get people in the door. Since you are not risking any loss you can not possibly be gambling. I find it very easy to move from there to tourneys with entry fees are still not gambling. I have paid thousands in entry fees for events of all kinds. Would you consider a rifle or pistol match gambling? How about stock car racing?
However, many rifle matches have a cash option much like a Calcutta. This is clearly gambling as it is not a condition of entry into the event, likewise, buying into a Calcutta is normally gambling. However even buying into a Calcutta at the minimum bid may be a condition of entry for some pool tournaments and then this becomes a condition of entry and not actually gambling unless you bid in the Calcutta.
Having muddied the waters adequately, I will try to simplify. Anything that is a requirement of entry into an event is not gambling. Putting up extra money in an optional Calcutta or wagering among individuals is gambling. Calcutta's are generally legal, usually being considered private wagers between individuals rather than organized gambling since the establishment running the event receives no part of a Calcutta.
Hopefully this answers your question. Without knowing the reason behind your question I went into a lot of detail. My opinion, there is no religious or ethical reason not to compete in tournaments of any kind, other than for members in a few sects that are against competitions in general.
Hu
I have a friend who is an associate Pastor at a church. He loves to play pool and when he comes in he loves to practice with me. But. He will not play tournaments because he considers it gambling...
He feels if everyone puts up $10 to play, and when he plays the individual he draws in the tournament, he is trying to win and knock that person out so he can win his money and all the money in the tournament...After all. Thats what your playing for, right??? To win everyone's money....
If you put $10 in a football pool and win everyone's money, is that gambling???
Any time you put up money to win money, to me that is gambling....
When you win money from other people and they lose money to you, to me that is gambling.
If I give $10 to the Cancer Society or Red Cross, I get nothing back....
I think it boils down to each individual...It's what you feel inside. If it bothers you to play tournaments because you feel you are gambling, then you have to go with your feelings.
I mean, I play tournaments 2 to 3 times a week and feel it is gambling. But it don't bother me because I have no convictions about it...
He feels if everyone puts up $10 to play, and when he plays the individual he draws in the tournament, he is trying to win and knock that person out so he can win his money and all the money in the tournament...After all. Thats what your playing for, right??? To win everyone's money....
If you put $10 in a football pool and win everyone's money, is that gambling???
Any time you put up money to win money, to me that is gambling....
When you win money from other people and they lose money to you, to me that is gambling.
If I give $10 to the Cancer Society or Red Cross, I get nothing back....
I think it boils down to each individual...It's what you feel inside. If it bothers you to play tournaments because you feel you are gambling, then you have to go with your feelings.
I mean, I play tournaments 2 to 3 times a week and feel it is gambling. But it don't bother me because I have no convictions about it...
thanks everyone for your answers. nine ballart really answered my question. how can it not be gambling if you are putting up money to win everyone else's entry fee? it clearly is gambling to me when i look at it that way. i love to play pool. i wanted to play tournaments because thats where the real competition is. other good players wont play me much without playing for money, and i dont gamble. this is why i ask the question. i want to thank everyone for their inquiries.
Most of the time a tournament entry fee barely covers the table time. Sure your playing to win a cash prize, but that doesn't make it gambling. It's a compatition that's all. You pay to play (as you would when you pay table time) and there are prizes for those who play best
Webster's new world dictionary:...GAMBLE, GAMBLING....to play games of chance for money or some other stake (prizes).... an act involving risk of a loss....to play games for stakes.... to squander or lose.....
Like I said. It's really up to each person. If you don't think it's gambling than thats O.K.... If Cuefeene thinks it is and it bothers him, he has to make the decision...You have made yours and I have made mine and Cuefeene has to make his...So everyone gives his or her thoughts on this and each has his own reasoning...Cuefeene was looking for comments on this because he had a decision to make and all the comments will help him to make it. Thats what he was looking for.....I just personally think it is gambling but don't have a problem with it. You don't think it is and thats O.K. too. I am not arguing the point, just telling how I feel....
I agree...it is a totally personal decision. But why would someone ask the question in the first place? Regardless of the answers, it still comes down to how you personally feel. What someone else thinks about an issue like this means nothing. My opinion?, your opinion?...the only opinion that counts is the one belonging to the person asking the question.
Steve
Steve
If our opinions don't matter than why did you give one????
I think you can gamble on a lot of skilled things. You can play basketball, tennis, golf for money. They all take skill- if I played someone a round of golf for $1000, that would be gambling wouldn't it? Me personally, don't think that pool tournaments are gambling. What if it was a free tournament and you won table time or a cue. Would that be gambling? You are not risking any money doing it. I don't look at Tiger Woods as a gambler, even though he has to pay an entry fee to play. I can see were people could consider tournaments gambling, but I just don't think so.mszelis said:
