Play Rummy Games Online

Online Rummy Games are Legal!

When to Take the Upcard --- Discarding Tips --- When to Knock --- Playing the Score or Keeping Under --- Reading the Discards

Playing online Rummy games is perfectly legal in the US!

According to the statutes of most US states and US Federal statutes, gambling is defined as:risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance. At PlayRummy.net we povide information about were to play rummy and the rules.

Playing rummy online is based on skill and not gambling and hence it is not illegal to do so! The courts have already ruled in regards to the legality of skill games as not to be considered gambling.

Here is some info about a case involving Gin Rummy Is it a game of Skill or Chance? District Court Decides!

Taken from "How to Win at Gin Rummy". Pramod Shankar, Ph.D. First Carol Publishing Edition, 1997. page 76.)

In mid-1960s a Las Vegas-based Gin Rummy tournament was promoted by mailing flyers to players. The post office objected on the grounds that it was illegal to promote a "game of chance" (a lottery) through postal services.  This case ended up in court.  After listening to the testimony of experts that included statisticians and several prominent players, the US District Court of Las Vegas on February 23, 1965, ruled that Gin Rummy is indeed a game of skill.

If a judge has said it is legal and a game of skill, you better believe it! If you have played Rummy before you know it is not a luck & chance game.

The newest US Federal legislation of September 30, 2006 -- H.R.4411 "Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006" Sec. 5362 defines illegal betting or wagering as including "the purchase of a chance or opportunity to win a lottery or other prize (which opportunity to win is predominantly subject to chance)".

The new Federal legislation includes a specific allowance for online competitions in games of skill, such as those offered by the sites we promote here at PlayRummy.net.

Skill gaming is in the same position it was in before the bill -- it is still legal in the majority of US States. The new bill does not change the definition of gambling or the legality of skill games.

"If skill games are not unlawful under applicable state or Federal law, then they are not unlawful under this Act. The sponsors of this legislation repeatedly asserted that nothing in this Act converts currently legal activities to unlawful activities," stated Anthony Cabot, an attorney with the Las Vegas law firm of Lewis and Roca who is considered to be a leading authority on legal gaming.

Outcome of Rummy is predominantly based on the player's skill. Each player within the tournament has an equally difficult hand of cards, so the winner is ultimately determined by how quickly and skillfully each player approaches the game.

As noted by Arizona Supreme court:
"Paying an entrance fee in order to participate in a game of skill . . . in the hope of winning prize money guaranteed by some sponsor to successful participants, is a traditional part of American social life. [W]e are reluctant to adopt a statutory interpretation which would turn sponsors of golf, tennis or bridge tournaments, ... and the like into class 6 felons . . . [Furthermore, where the legislature specifically created a state-sponsored lottery,] it is difficult . . . to find any moral imperative for a sweeping interpretation of a gambling statute in order to make the sponsor of a crossword puzzle contest a criminal while his next door neighbor, betting a dollar with the state to win a million in the state lottery, is a virtuous citizen" (from Am. Holiday Ass'n 727 P.2d at 812).