Cribbage Pro Contests are NOT Gambling

At Fuller Systems, Inc. we offer Cribbage Pro as a “Game of Skill” only. Anyone who has spent any amount of time playing the great game of Cribbage will immediately recognize the amount of skill required in the game, and Cribbage itself is nearly universally accepted as such a game of skill. In fact, the vast amount of data we have collected from our single player game of Cribbage Pro, clearly shows that those who are more skilled in the game have a significant advantage over the skills implemented in our computer AI. This continues to prove itself out in the multiplayer games offered as well where the top players continue to show their skill and ability to win against others with less experience and skill.

According to the statutes of most US states and US Federal statutes, gambling is defined as “risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance“.

Playing Games, Contests or Tournaments with Cribbage Pro is completely legal in most jurisdictions! (see the full Terms and Conditions for details and limitations)

The Fuller Systems, Inc. game of Cribbage Pro is no different from things like golf tournaments, chess or any other skill-based games that have been played for cash or prizes around the world for hundreds of years.

At Fuller Systems, Inc we strive to always operate in full compliance with all applicable US Federal and State Laws. As such, skill games (Contests) are legal in the states in which Fuller Systems, Inc. offers them. Fuller Systems, Inc’s fee-based Contests or Tournaments are not gambling because they involve predominantly skill, as opposed to chance, and are designed as interactive online entertainment for adults. Participation is restricted to individuals of legal age in their respective jurisdictions. Players must also meet specific criteria for their physical location in order to participate. See the Terms and Conditions for more information and further details.

The most recent US Federal legislation of September 30, 2006 (H.R.4411 “Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006” Sec. 5362), defines illegal betting or wagering as including “the purchase of a chance or opportunity to win a lottery or other prize (which opportunity to win is predominantly subject to chance)”.

Federal legislation includes a specific allowance for online competitions in games of skill, such as those offered by Fuller Systems, Inc. with Cribbage Pro, to continue in the US states in which they have always been legal (see our Terms and Conditions for specific limitations).

It is then completely legal in the vast majority of US States. This bill does not change the definition of gambling or the legality of skill games.

As stated by Anthony Cabot (an attorney with the Las Vegas law firm of Lewis and Roca – a leading authority on legal gaming), “If skill games are not unlawful under applicable state or Federal law, then they are not unlawful under this Act. The sponsors of this legislation repeatedly asserted that nothing in this Act converts currently legal activities to unlawful activities,”.

The outcomes of all Fuller Systems, Inc. games are based predominantly upon the players’ skill, not chance. This is very different than a simple lottery or of games typically found in a casino, where every player ultimately faces the same random odds of winning or losing. Even with games where chance has some role in the outcome of the contest, as most card games do, Fuller Systems, Inc. has engineered all its games to ensure that the outcomes remain predominantly based on the player’s skill (as they are in the off-line world for the same game of Cribbage) and are not favoring any player for any reason. The implementation of Cribbage you find in Cribbage Pro is a “pure implementation” of the game as defined and set by the American Cribbage Congress (ACC – http://www.cribbage.org/). As the ACC has said, and as other implementations of the great game have concluded as well, Cribbage is a game of skill where a players ability to understand the statistical probabilities, hand recognition, card-counting and other similar strategies allow the player to manipulate their hand and play in such a way as to overcome a weakly dealt hand and win over a less-skilled competitor. In fact, in the United Kingdom and its Gaming Act of 1968, they explicitly acknowledge Cribbage as a game of skill among other similar games like chess or bridge.

Even though there is a clear line between skill-based games and games of chance, there are still a few states within the U.S. that have not yet permitted skill-based games to be played for cash or prizes. For those states, Fuller Systems Inc. games like Cribbage Pro can still be played, but only on a free basis without cash or prize offerings – not in the the contests or tournaments offered.

Courts throughout the country, regardless of skill consideration, have long recognized that it would be “patently absurd” to hold that “the combination of an entry fee and a prize equals gambling,” in and of itself, because if that were true, any number of other contests that many participate in every day would be unlawful gambling, including things like “golf tournaments, bridge tournaments, local and state rodeos or fair contests, . . . literary or essay competitions, . . . livestock, poultry and produce exhibitions, track meets, spelling bees, beauty contests and the like,” and contest participants and sponsors could all be subject to criminal liability. State v. Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc., 727 P.2d 807, 809, 812 (Ariz.1986) (en banc). Furthermore, in the same, the Arizona Supreme court further stated that “Paying an entrance fee in order to participate in a game of skill . . . in the hope of winning prize money guaranteed by some sponsor to successful participants, is a traditional part of American social life. [W]e are reluctant to adopt a statutory interpretation which would turn sponsors of golf, tennis or bridge tournaments, … and the like into class 6 felons . . . [Furthermore, where the legislature specifically created a state-sponsored lottery,] it is difficult . . . to find any moral imperative for a sweeping interpretation of a gambling statute in order to make the sponsor of a crossword puzzle contest a criminal while his next door neighbor, betting a dollar with the state to win a million in the state lottery, is a virtuous citizen” (from Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc.,727 P.2d at 812).

How to Define Skill
A good definition of Skill comes from the Alabama Supreme Court: “Skill” – in the context of activities … is merely the exercise, upon known rules and fixed probabilities, of “sagacity,” which is in turn defined as “quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment with soundness of judgement; shrewdness; [the] ability to see what is relevant and significant.” (Webster’s New International Dictionary 2ed, 1953)