The Prague Post reports that members of the Czech Association of Poker Clubs are pushing the country’s Finance Ministry to recognize poker as an official sport.
Members believe this would decrease mob-run outfits. Some are even working with legal representatives from Ernst & Young to assist them in the movement.
According to the paper, ministry officials said they are getting ready to introduce a “lottery act” to streamline national regulations for gambling, which is illegal outside of casino floors.
“Ministry officials don’t understand that poker, in all its complexity, is not gambling as much as a skill game in which good players win and bad players lose,” Karel Kruska, a member of the executive council of the Czech Association of Poker Clubs, told the paper. “This conservative attitude and unfamiliarity has turned into doubts.”