online business legality question - gambling vs skill game

I have a quick hypothetical question: I know it's illegal to run a poker website in the United States, and I'm assuming that that's because it's gambling. Would something like this be illegal in any way: Say I set up a website that hosts chess games between two players, and there is an optional membership fee (say $50). All paid members compete in a monthly tournament which pays out cash prizes from the pool generated by the membership fee (but I take some percentage off the top for site maintenance, etc...). I would think that because chess is a game of skill (no random chance like poker), that this is a legal idea for a business?

Thanks for any help you can give me

edit: I'm from Ohio btw

 

bump

no one has any input on this question?

 

Hello ,

Personally I dont know the U.S rules but I dont see a problem opening a membership site dedicated to Chess Game!
Ask someone from USA for a solid response

Cheers

Olgi

 

You probably need to check with the attorney general of the state you live in and also the US one especially since you'll be doing this online. I would imagine you could structure it so that it would be OK but would you get enough players to make the prize pools big enough to attract a big enough field.
donrock

 

ok, thanks

I'll try to contact the attorney general and let you know what they say.

 

In most states it isn't considered gambling if participants are competing in skill games for prizes. If you don't have the money to hire an attorney then an option is to try to find what looks to be a site that's already done their homework and copy their terms, etc. It's far from perfect, but it usually works esp when you're small and probably won't get noticed.

For example, http://www.themafiaboss.com/signup.php but you can also check skilljam and some of the other really big skill games for money sites.

 

Thanks for the references Nitin.

The attorney general got back to me and said that they were not authorized to help me with my individual/personal questions. They said I could either a) do some research into the laws on my own (which I probably will do) or b) hire an attorney (not an option right now).