Is this legal? Is it gambling?

[mect]

It is odd how if you are participating it is not gambling, but if you are observing it is. For example with golf, you can pay an entrance fee for a tournament and have a chance to win and most would not cosider that gambling. On the other hand, if you bet on the winner of that same golf game as an observer it is gambling. What if you bet on yourself to win? Mixed bag, the whole thing. By this perspective, getting together with the guys and playing poker should not be considered gambling, but most people would call it such. In fact, if it wasn't an organized tournament with a prize, but just two groups of people challenging each other to a game of basketball with both putting down a given amount of money, most would consider that gambling. I guess it all comes down to the mentallity which makes it hard to define if it is gambling or not since it will depend on the individual. If someone views it simply as paying for the oportunity to play in an organized competition, it wouldn't be considered gambling. If someone is playing for the money, to me it would be considered gambling.

 

[CQuinn]

If you bet on yourself to win, you are disqualified from the tournament. And probably forfeit your gambling stake.

Poker is gambling because, while your skill at recognizing card patterns and bluffing you opponent comes into play, the
basic outcome of each game it rested on the random pattern of cards that are dealt to each player. Plus poker players
can typically raise their stake based on the initial hand they are dealt, where tournament players cannot pay double
the entry fee and expect double the winnings if they come out ahead of the other contestants.

You might have a point on the basketball game, but how do you know the other team doesn't have a semi-pro player
on their side as a ringer?

What defines it as gambling is the ratio of chance vs skill involved in the play, and the likelyhood of the players to be
able to raise their own stake in anticipation of greater winnings.