Do you think any form of a tournament with a buy-in an prize money should be considered as gambling?

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No. It's not gambling. It's a sport.


Foreign poker players coming to the US to play in a tourney, use a Visa that is the same as foreign athletes coming for an event. I assume the same thing for US players going elsewhere, etc.

Although there is a certain element of luck involved in poker tournaments, there is also luck involved in bowling, golf, and just about any other sport you care to name. Individual or team.

So, poker is a sport.

Even if you're blindly playing with basic strategy, a BlackJack tournament requires a good amount of skill too - in each round's bet.


FYI: I don't know, so I'll assume you're right that the PGA golfers don't pay for the tourney. But they do pay (or have a sponsor that pays) for their PGA membership. There may be no tourney fees because there are enough event sponsors to cover all the costs as well as the prizes. Bowling doesn't have enough audience or sponsors to do the same thing.

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Although one broad definition in Webster's defines "gambling" as, "to play a game for money or property", another definition is, "to stake something on a contingency : take a chance"

When the competition is based only on the skill of the participant (bowling), it is not gambling, even if an entry fee is required, and cash prizes are awarded. Games that require participants to put something at risk ("stake") in hope of a gain, with outcomes that depend on Cards, Dice, Numbered Balls, or other event(s) that are outside of the participant's control (e.g., Superbowl half-time score), fit the definition of gambling.