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Mar 1, 2022

The Metaverse Finally Has a Killer App: Poker

In Decentraland, the poker parlors, known as ICE Poker, are run by a company called Decentral Games, which doesn’t possess a gambling license in the U.S. and argues it doesn’t need one. Gamers aren’t directly cashing out chips for money after they play, says Ryan De Taboada, the company’s chief operating officer. Yet experts say the system exists in a gray area. “Any contest or prize predicated on ‘buying in’ constitutes gambling,” says Jeff Ifrah, an attorney who specializes in gambling law. “If you have to buy in to participate in a contest, even if the chips are free, the purchase of a prerequisite to play is a problem.”