A judge in Pennsylvania ruled last week that poker is a game of skill, not luck.

The distinction is an important one because in Pennsylvania, games of luck are considered gambling and thus illegal, while games of skill are not considered gambling and are thus okay.

The judge’s ruling stemmed from a case in which two people were arrested for holding poker games in their home.

Facing a multitude of gambling charges, the pair was acquitted when the judge ruled that poker is a game mostly of skill, not mostly of luck, so it isn’t gambling.

The issue is not a new one for the courts, nor is it one in which there is any consensus.

Either nationally or internationally.

In 2007, the three-judge North Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that poker is a game of luck, not skill.

The rulings stemmed from a case in which a North Carolina man wanted to open a poker club in the state, despite state laws against gambling.

In another 2007 case, a British man was charged with profiting from a game of chance after he opened a poker club in London, England.

After a court trial, a jury ruled poker is luck, not skill, and therefore gambling, and the man was convicted.

Also in 2007, a court in Demark ruled that poker is a game of skill, not a game of luck. =A0 That ruling came about after a Danish man who ran local poker tournaments was sued by Danish casinos who claimed the man violated a Danish law that permits only casinos to provide gambling.

And coming up?

Later this month, a judge in South Carolina is scheduled to rule on whether poker is a game of luck or skill, in connection with the trial of five men arrested for playing poker and violating state anti-gambling laws.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)