The legal definition agrees that risking money on an uncertain outcome is gambling, but it seems to make an exception for something that’s not under a person’s control or influence. has a page about the legal definition of gambling, and it’s also illuminating: The legal definition of gambling might be another matter. And the outcome of an individual hand in poker is uncertain, even when the odds are in your favor. After all, you’re playing a game for money. A well-meaning editor had removed the phrase “gambling game” from the page’s lede, claiming that poker was a game of skill, not chance, and therefore it wasn’t a gambling game.īut according to the definition from Merriam Webster, poker qualifies for sure. I saw an interesting discussion in the Wikipedia article about poker that relates to this, in fact. My favorite online dictionary, Merriam Webster, says that the word “gamble” has 2 definitions: Bonus- Online Versions of Gambling Games.How Do You Categorize Gambling Games List, Then?.