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Video gambling games on machines such as the "Pot-O-Gold"
machines are a huge money maker for bars and other
establishments in states where monetary payoffs are allowed.
Most such states have a provision in their laws that require
a demonstrable level of player skill be involved in order for
a game to be "legal" to the state authorities. The largest
net revenue states from video gambling are Nevada, New Jersey,
and South Carolina, in that order. Net revenues from video
gambling games is nearly two billion dollars a year in South
Carolina alone, and the Pot-O-Gold machines account for
approximately 75% of this amount. Most of the 15 to 25 games
that can be played on the Pot-O-Gold machines are slightly
different forms of draw poker. The Federal District Court
in South Carolina heard arguments in a case to ban video
gambling games in that state last year. The elements of
skill available to a player of one of these games (10's or
better) are derived and discussed, and methods of
demonstrating player skill levels to the court system are
presented. Similar methods were used for the games of
Blackjack, Keno, Bingo, and Lotto, with the obvious result
that some of these games involve no demonstrable skill
(except a player's decision not to play the game) and being
legally banned from appearing on the video gambling machines.
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