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Kansas Says No to Poker
 
October 25, 2009

Kansas has decided that a new game called Kandu Challenge is in fact a poker game. A Kansas judge says that the game is considered predominantly chance kind of game, and thereby it is illegal in the state of Kansas. He rolled that although it may be a variation on poker is still illegal.
 
Sedgwick County District Judge Timothy Lahey said that the variation on poker that the game has put forth does not meet the requirement that is needed to make it be considered a game of skill. Without that distinction it is illegal within the state as games of chance are not permitted.
 
The Highlands Card Room in Wichita was told that they had to stop playing the game because it was illegal. States attorneys said that they saw a as simply a Texas Hold ‘em game that had been tweaked to try and make it seem like it was legal. The owners of both the gaming hall and the company that made the poker game said that it was a legal game and sued the state of Kansas to have it made legal only to fail in their attempt.
 
The judge said that because the poker game offered consideration for a prize, to be awarded by chance or luck, that all three elements of illegal gambling occur within the game. They felt that it was simply another way to get around state law forbidding the game to be played. The creator of the game said that because right before dealing the dealer flips the card upside down and shows the players the cards for a couple of seconds this makes it a game of memory and still not a game of chance.