Mansion Wants Poker Olympics

January 12, 2009

There has been talk in the past of trying to make poker officially a sport instead of a game. The arguments for it are that the game of poker takes skill, not luck, and is more like a game than a gamble. They say that slot machines are gambling, but poker is gambling with style and substance.

Now they are taking it one step further trying to get poker listed as an official Olympic Sport. They want poker in the Olympics as a demonstration sport in 2012 and as a main event in 2016. They think that they might get lucky because of the support that they have behind them with poker players.

The online casino CircusCasino.co.uk is a subsidiary of the Mansion Group. They are working hard to get it approved even though they are also up against women’s netball and Twenty20 cricket fans who are trying similar measures. However, they say that poker is something anyone can play, no matter how old they are, man or woman, and is growing by leaps and bounds.

The company says that poker is an old and “well established game” and is already recognized in some countries as a sport. They say that with millions watching it on television already, if they add it to the Olympics the viewer ship of the games will increase exponentially. They say that millions already play the game, and as it is such a popular game they would be able to follow along with it – not like swimming or something where once you hit a certain age you would be out.