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A municipal court in Denmark, according to the Copenhagen Post, has brought in the ruling that gambling laws in Denmark are not infringed by poker contests. On Friday, the Lyngby district municipal court ruled that skill is a requirement in playing poker for it is not just a game of chance, and hence it is considered a lawful contest. Frederik Hostrup, the president of the Danish Poker Association, charged of having performed unlawful gambling activities, was acquitted. On behalf of the nation's land casinos, Horestra, the hotel and restaurant trade organization had brought a court case against Hostrup. The court's decision contradicts the 2006 Ministry of Justice's legal affairs committee ruling which considered that unlawful gambling also included poker. The Politiken newspaper was informed by Henrik Hoffmann, Hostrup's lawyer, that Friday's court decision makes poker, which has evolved over recent years to one of the most favorite games in Denmark, legal. He claimed that poker has evolved into a kind of popular sport. At least once a week, two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand people in Denmark regularly play poker and over half a million currently play on a regular basis. In accordance with the criminal law in Denmark, unlawful games constitute games or contests where the organizer endeavors to obtain an economically financial profit. According to Hoffmann, poker actually concerns placing wagers in an astute manner, playing wisely and attempting to convince the other participants that you hold different cards than the ones your hands actually hold. He further claimed that you are able to succeed in poker if you are sufficiently astute in keeping your strategy hidden, whether or not you hold a bad hand. With surprise and disappointment from the court's ruling, Erik Jensen, the spokesperson for Horesta claimed that at any moment you play to win money, the danger to becoming addicted to gambling grows. Certain research has revealed that in Denmark there are eighty five thousand people at risk to become addicts, and that is why there is so much importance attached to preemptory steps. The decision whether to make an appeal to the court's decision is in the hands of the prosecutors for fourteen days. Posted on: July 26, 2007
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