GameDuell is one-of-a-kind because users can play against real opponents and can win real prizes, even cash.

Since all games GameDuell offers are skill based games, it is not considered gambling and, therefore, the offer is legal in most of the United States. While our coverage of skill gaming has been fairly sporadic, and we hope to improve it, generally speaking, internet gaming is one of the most popular and fastest growing sectors of the online market. It is already worth more than 4 billion US dollars and expected to hit 8 billion by the end of 2011 according to Watershed Publishing LLC and Media Buyer Planner LLC.

One of the remaining online poker rooms legal for US residents is DuplicatePoker.com, which legally accepts US players and is able to accept payment via Visa or MasterCard. This year Duplicate Poker is giving away $14,000 WSOP Main Event VIP Package. On May 10th, DuplicatePoker.com will host it’s first-ever WSOP Main Event qualifier. Players will have a shot to win a complete $14,000 WSOP Main Event VIP Package It’s the richest, most customized offering around. The player who qualifies will •

• Travel to Las Vegas in style
• Be chauffeured around The Strip in a limo
• Live like a high roller in a luxury suite
• Get first-class show tickets and spending money to enjoy all that Las Vegas has to offer

Tournaments:

Qualifier: Saturday, May 10th, 8:05 ET. Buy in: $99+$9.

Daily satellites will run at: 6:35 pm and 7:35 pm EST

Buy in: $18+$1.8 Satellites will also run on S&G tab.

Daily freeroll satellites: a daily freeroll with one guaranteed seat to the finals (worth $108) for all players who made a deposit in the 24 hours between 6 and 6 every day can take part.

WorldGaming allows players to bet on their games and offers cash prizes for multi-player tournaments as well. Because your winning potential is based solely on your own skill there is no gambling or element of chance in these games, making it perfectly legal.

WorldGaming offers all the major consoles for game play on our site from XBOX, XBOX360, PS2 and PS3. They also offer a variety of the most popular titles in the world including Halo 2, Halo 3, Madden football, FIFA soccer, and much more. We have compiled a listing of other video game tournament sites that allow you play for cash or prizes. Some of WorldGaming’s competitors include Sharkwaters.com, a UK based skill-gaming site, WorldWinner, for those who prefer to compete in Scrabble, Bejeweled or card games ,Gspotgaming.com, a California based competition site, and Gamersaloon.com, a Michigan based tournament hosting site that supports the widest assortment of consoles.

The Cellufun “Call of the Pharoah” game relies on a pyramid scheme to get other players to join. Cellufun also makes “The Mobile Ring,” a political boxing game where Obama and Clinton can square off against each other. The game has been played more than 2 million times in the past four months.

Clearly, the gaming industry understands the appeal of mobile gaming and that users are becoming much more comfortable playing games on their cellphones. It really shouldn’t be long until cell phone users are 100% comfortable wagering on sporting events and playing casino games on their cellphones.

Law of the Game blog analyzed the proposed bill to narrow down what the act includes and clarifies [The rest of this entry is paraphrased from their analysis]:

There are three critical points in this act in terms of inclusion:

1. Success is predominantly determined by a player’s skill
2. Competition only between and among participants
3. [competition] not against the person operating the game

The has to be won by skill, bet on by players, and the house must not have a seat at the table.

Here are some examples of what is and isn’t allowed under this proposed legislation.

Allowed:

• Players wagering on the outcome of the next round of Halo.
• Players pay to enter a tournament, with the winner or top few spots taking the money paid in.
• People wagering on the results of player – vs – player combat in an MMORPG (round or tournament), so long as the betters were all players.
• People bet on the result of a a race in, for example, Forza 2.
• Wagering on the outcome of a round of Mario Party you are participating in. (This is the most questionable, as there are so many chance elements in Mario Party. However, I believe that the game is more skill than chance, so I think application would work here.)

Not Allowed:

• Betting on the outcome of a game you’re not playing. For example, I couldn’t put cash on a player to win the next round of Halo as an observer.
• Betting on someone else to win when you’re playing. (This is a traditional gambling issue. If you’re playing poker, you can’t put money on the guy 2 seats down the table. It would eliminate the integrity of the game.)
• Betting on the outcome of a Player vs. Computer match, i.e. betting as to whether a player character could beat a high level creature in a coliseum.
• It does not legitimize gold farming or other MMORPG profiteering, as those are generated in a player vs. computer (environment) model.
• Betting on anything primarily determined by chance, i.e. blackjack within an MMORPG.

There are two distinctions between game of skill and game of luck. First, who is the player betting against. If the player is betting against the house, it’s a game of chance, if the player is playing against other players than it’s a game of skill. Furthermore, if one can prove the game involves skill (math, statistics, strategy) in addition to pure chance and luck, than the game is not prohibited by the act and is allowed. A number of groups are currently lobbying to allow poker to be legally played on the internet by trying to classify it as a game of skill.

Others have modified the game to make it more skill based game. For example, DuplicatePoker.com a gaming site is offering duplicate poker, a flavor of the game that eliminate the “luck of the draw” element from poker. As a result, the elements of skill predominate in determining winners in Duplicate Poker games. Because Duplicate Poker is a game of skill it is legal in most U.S. jurisdictions and currently accepts US based players. Current states where skill-gaming is prohibited include: Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vermont, Connecticut, Florida, Montana, South Carolina and Illinois.

Unfortunately for sports fanatics, when one places a bet on a sporting event, one is betting against the house, thus placing it in the category of games of chance. Thus, as of the writing of this article, if you’d like to bet on basketball, soccer, football or hockey games, you are not permitted to do so over the internet in the United States.