There is one reason to consider making poker illegal - it is addictive and has destroyed the lives and financial situations of many people who play it. I've se

There is one reason to consider making poker illegal - it is addictive and has destroyed the lives and financial situations of many people who play it. I've seen friends and family throw away thousands of dollars because of their addiction to poker. I'm not sure that poker is a net gain for society or not, but to say that poker is simply a game of skill that is no more harmful or beneficial than basketball or bowling or fishing or chess is disingenuous. I admit that poker and other forms of gambling are not equally addictive or destructive to all people, just like WoW isn't equally addictive/destructive to all people who play. However, there are far more cases of gambling, specifically games of luck/skill like poker/blackjack, that result in broken lives and broken families due to a gambling addiction than in a traditional "game of skill". Perhaps society as a whole is willing to believe the positives of poker outweighs the negatives, like it does with drinking alcohol or I guess now maybe smoking marajuana in some states. We just shouldn't pretend that poker is all positives because it is statistically a game of skill. There is a lot more to the behavior around the game than that and only a fool would believe otherwise.