Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Shillington PA USA
Posts: 269

Making money playing chess?

Posted on AP wire for Cnet's News.com

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Nevada company bets on online chess play

LAS VEGAS--An online entertainment company's gambit gives chess players the opportunity to compete against each other via the Web for cash.

Minden, Nev.-based WebQuest International launched OnlineChess.com, the first Web site to offer cash prizes for Internet checkmates, according to company executives.

"The market size is huge," WebQuest Chief Executive Kirk Johnson said Monday. "We already had logged 8,000 free games before our official launch to the public."

Company representatives say it's legal in most places despite bans on Internet gambling. Tony Cabot, an Internet gambling expert and Las Vegas attorney who also is a consultant for WebQuest, said he surveyed each of the 50 states and discovered that at least 33--including the District of Columbia--allow residents to risk money on games of skill, whether it be golf or a Monopoly tournament.

"This isn't gambling," Cabot said. "It's pure skill."

States prohibited from playing online are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming.

Online gambling, while not specifically banned by law, is considered by the Justice Department to be a violation of the Interstate Wire Act, a 1961 law banning gambling by telephone. But operators of OnlineChess say they are offering one of the first legal alternatives to online gambling for U.S. Internet users.

"There are no federal gaming laws that would disallow this," said Scott Berry, chief financial officer for WebQuest.

Gambling by legal definition is comprised of a "prize, consideration and chance," Cabot added. "Skill games don't follow the same rules as casinos."

Nevada officials aren't as sure.

"It's difficult to say," said Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander, who has not seen the OnlineChess Web site. "The game of chess doesn't seem to be a traditional lottery, but it may fall under the legal definition."

Lotteries and online gambling are illegal under Nevada law. The historical definition of a lottery might have some of the same elements of a chess game, Neilander said.

"But if it is truly a game of skill, it doesn't fall under the Gaming Control Act," he said

Players, who must be 18 or older, open an account with a minimum of $25 using a credit card.

"Then you can play for anywhere between $2 and $25" a game, said company spokesman Chet Chicosky. "WebQuest will cut you a check (of winnings) once a week."

Although the maximum a player can win is unlimited, the maximum one can lose is $200 a day. Losses are limited to $1,000 a month.

"You can't lose more than that or they block you out," Chicosky said.

Copyright © 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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This seems like an interesting idea, I know we have alot of people here who enjoy playing chess, it will also be curious to see how/when/why the laws will change to prevent or encourage this type of thing. Alas I cannot play living in Pennsylvania, but if your interested the web address is...

OnlineChess.com

GS



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A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: State of Denial
Posts: 1468

I think they deserve to make money using their brains. Sheesh they pay sports stars millions just cause they have a little talent. (Like I could do anything they do haha)

My uncles sit around for hours playing chess. I have never even tried even though they wanted to teach me. I dont think its my thing.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Denver
Posts: 20610

Now I wish I had paid more attention to my chess game. I really enjoy chess and if Iw as good I could just sit here in my dungeon all day and play chess for money. I could be a complete geek then. *sigh* Oh well, guess it's back to school for me.

-m


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Freedom means taking the bad with the good.

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