[Participants pay entry fees]

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514e3251444e7a457a6333566d54/index.html

After previously creating this thread, I thought about other legal gambling activities that exist in countries that completely prohibit gambling activities.

In some countries, gambling is officially illegal. The law clearly prohibits betting activities. However, in reality there are still some activities that look very similar to gambling but are still allowed. One example is bird singing competitions.

In these competitions, participants bring their birds and register them by paying an entry fee. The birds are judged based on their singing quality, rhythm, and performance. At the end of the competition, the winners receive cash prizes and trophies.

Even though this is considered a hobby competition, there are some elements that resemble gambling:

• Participants pay entry fees
• There are prize pools for winners
• Sometimes people make side bets on which bird will win

Because of this, some people think this is a form of legal gambling, even in a country that bans gambling.
Others say it is just a competition and hobby, not gambling.

What do you think?
Should activities like bird singing competitions be considered gambling or just a normal contest with prizes?

[Can this be considered gambling?]

https://depositphotos.com/vector/fisher-with-big-fish-10201605.html

In some countries, fishing ponds are really popular and can turn into a very profitable business. In my country, these kinds of fishing ponds are easy to find and are spread across many cities. You pay an entry fee, usually between $1 and $100, then you fish for fun and prizes. If you’re lucky enough to catch the biggest fish in the pond, you can even win a jackpot.
There have been cases where pond owners paid out jackpots of around $1000 to $4000 to lucky players.

The question is

• Can this be considered gambling?
• If it is gambling, is it mostly about luck, or does skill actually matter?

My reason for creating this thread is actually out of curiosity. In my country, all gambling activities are prohibited. However, fishing ponds are considered legal and not considered a form of gambling. It's clear that we have to pay a certain amount of money to win a prize that isn't guaranteed.

Feel free to share your opinions, personal experiences, or any other perspectives.

Maybe some people are not very familiar with how the fishing pond system I’m talking about works, so I’ll add an explanation here.

There are two types of fishing ponds:

•Large fishing pond (or what people in my area call Galatama)
•Regular fishing pond

Large fishing pond, or Galatama.
Only opened once or twice a week. Every fish that is successfully caught must be returned to the pond after being weighed, as the fish weight is used to determine the winners.
On average, the fish in the pond weigh around 11 lbs (5 kg) to 15 lbs (7 kg), and there is only one giant fish weighing about 33 lbs (15 kg). The winners from 1st place to 10th place are determined by the weight of the fish caught and also depend on the total number of participants.

Regular fishing pond.
This is actually not much different from the large fishing pond. The main difference is that the regular fishing pond has a lower ticket price, usually around $10, with smaller prizes. However, every fish that is caught can be taken home, except for the jackpot fish, which must be returned to the pond.


This is how the ticket purchase works:

Buy in ticket $100 is distributed as follows 👇

Pond owner fee $10
Extra C (or side bet) $10
Jackpot fish $10
Remaining amount for the prize pool $70

With 200 participants:

1st place $5500 + $2000 side bet
2nd place $2500
3rd place $1500
4th place $1000
5th place $1000
6th - 10th place $500 each

If no one manages to catch a jackpot fish at each event, its value will continue to increase each week. For example, if no one catches a jackpot fish worth $2000 in the first week, the value will increase to $4000 in the second week, and so on.

From playing poker several times and participating in various poker tournaments in different places, I often think about the possibility of players working together to cheat one player. In other words, collusion, which is unethical and should not be done.

Perhaps for most gamblers here, collusion in poker is nothing new. But I'm curious and would like to know do certain poker sites have sophisticated tools to detect and prevent this kind of cheating?

What should be done to ensure the game remains fair and based on fair play?

https://www.pokernews.com/pokerterms/collusion.htm