Just to clarify, the guy made a contest that he knew, statistically, could not be won except if the random data file he produced just happened to be compressibl

Just to clarify, the guy made a contest that he knew, statistically, could not be won except if the random data file he produced just happened to be compressible (due to luck alone). In other words, he knowingly accepted money in a contest of chance not a contest of skill. So this contest (assuming either participant was in the US at the time) violated federal and state laws against unlicensed gambling operations, correct? [Assuming Mike Goldman did not possess a license to operate an online casino in 2001]