Playing Skill Games for Real Money Online

By Jane Shaw Senior Editor Updated: 10/21/2022

Jane Shaw Senior Editor See Full Bio

We count on Jane to inform our readers about the latest slot games in the US market. With her passion for video games and a degree in engineering, she’s our gambling tech expert. Jane’s also active in our blog section, where she tackles the curiosities and changes in the industry.

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Skill Games for Real Money

You have probably heard of the term skill games and chance games, but do you know what they represent? Well, today’s article will hopefully tell you all you need to know about these two types of games for real money. We will, however, as the title suggests, concentrate on online skill games for real money. Today is the day you learn everything about them!

What are Skill Games and How can you Win Real Money

In this article, we will tell you about the most popular skill games. We will explain in detail what skill-based games are and we will tell you how to play them at the best real money casinos in the US. So, if you’re into gambling, but you don’t want to leave everything to random outcomes, then this is the place for you. Enjoy reading and good luck playing some of the best skill games for money.

• 🤔 Games of Chance vs Games of Skill
• 🏈 Fantasy Sports & Daily Fantasy Sports
• 🇺🇸 States Allowing Fantasy Sports
• 🃏 Poker
• 🇺🇸 States Allowing Poker
• 💸 Blackjack
• 🇺🇸 States Allowing Poker
• 🤤 Miscellaneous Online Skill Games for Real Money

Games of Chance vs Games of Skill

If you have ever watched or read about gambling legalization in the United States, you might have encountered two popular terms – “games of chance” and “games of skill”. So, what do they mean exactly? Gambling games are divided into two big categories in the United States – chance games and skill games.

A game of chance is a game where the player has no control over the outcome. The best example for a game of chance is a slot machine; all you do is spin the reels and hope for the best. Same goes for roulette, as well as bingo.

A game of skill is a game whose outcome is (usually) heavily reliant upon the player’s input. The most appropriate example for this type of games is Fantasy Sports since it requires knowledge of the sports, the players in the respective, and their stats, along with the important skill of predicting future outcomes in sports games.

These are the most clear-cut examples for each of the two types. It seems that the gray area is much greater though. There are constant arguments about which games are skill-based games. This is because any state explicitly banning games of skill (usually in their constitution) and some of them only allow skill games for real money.

That’s precisely why you can easily find Daily Fantasy Sports in otherwise restrictive states; this one skill cash game can almost ever be considered anything else but that. Here are the skill games we are going to discuss today:

Fantasy Sports and Daily Fantasy Sports

Fantasy sports are a well-established form of online skill games where you can play for real money. The objective of this skill cash game is to predict the rankings of athletes in a particular sport as accurately as possible. To do this, you have to pick a sport like football or baseball and make your fantasy team.

You can pick any player you want; they do not have to be from the same team, or even the same division. Still, you only want to pick players who you think will do well at the end of the day. To do this, you have to carefully study these players’ stats, so if you’re already into that, you have a head start.

How does this work exactly? Once your make your selections and you pay for them, you can observe how each of your players is doing in real life. Yes, the outcome of the game depends on real life performance in sports games, so that adds an aspect of chance into the game, because stats are not always everything and anything can happen in a game.

This is why some legislators have already looked into ways to categorize fantasy sports in a different way, because they see it as gambling; as game of chance. Still, this doesn’t mean that your particular state is going to ban it, although some already have.

If you like the idea of playing fantasy sports, you have two choices before you – play fantasy sports or daily fantasy sports. Fantasy sports generally have you make your bets for an entire season, so you should look around for “sleepers” and make predictions based on overall performance that lasts a couple of months.

Daily fantasy sports, on the other hand, allow you to make predictions for much shorter periods, usually for just a day, hence the name. You don’t have to think what might happen in two months; play entirely based on the stats you have today.

States Allowing Fantasy Sports

The good news is that you can play Fantasy Sports/Daily Fantasy Sports almost everywhere in the country. Most states do not have laws regarding it, so you can play this type of online skill games for real money. Other states have explicitly legalized it.

There are still some states where this form of skill-based gambling is completely illegal and we don’t advise you to partake in it, because you might fall into the trap of scam websites. The states where it’s illegal to play it are Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, and Washington.

Poker

Poker is definitely a game of skill, mixed with some luck. You have no control over which cards you are dealt, whether you play with a live dealer at a land-based casino or if you play at an online casino, or you play video poker.

Yet, do you have no control over the game? Of course, you do, because you choose how to play your cards, and bluffing is always an option. Most professional poker players will agree that poker is a game of skill and even if you start googling “is poker…” the first suggestion will be “is poker a game of skill”.

There have even been numerous research papers exploring that topic, most of which conclude that even though chance affects the game, skill dominates it, because bad players continue to perform sub-par and vice versa. Still, that’s not good enough to convince legislators to classify poker and similar games as game of skill.

We simply cannot not add poker to this article. We, along with many experts in the field of skill-based gambling, consider this popular game to be a game of skill and there’s that. Still, poker relies much more on chance than fantasy sports do, so keep that in mind.

States Allowing Poker

You can play poker in most land-based casinos in the United States whereas most of them will be Indian casinos. There are, however, four states with zero casinos, and consequently, zero poker tables – Hawaii, Utah, Kentucky, and Georgia. Considering their gambling history, it’s unlikely for them to change their mind any time soon.

If you prefer playing poker from the comfort of your own home, you can try some of the best online poker operators. Besides Nevada, count yourself lucky if you live in the following states that have legalized online poker – Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. You can find various poker games at top-rated casino sites for fast withdrawals as well.

Blackjack

While a lot of people debate whether poker is a game of skill, but most of them agree it is, that’s not true for blackjack. The topic of blackjack being part of casino skill games is much more controversial than poker is. That’s because a much greater deal of chance involved in the game.

For example, you make decisions (skill) based on the card you’re dealt (chance) and you can choose to hit, stand or double down. However, and this is a big however, there’s a scenario where you immediately lose, without making a single decision, and that is if the dealer is dealt a blackjack.

In addition, using six decks of cards instead of one adds even more chance to the game. Still, it does require skill and you still make decisions; professional players can be distinguished from novices who play much more conservatively. So, we’d say that blackjack is not a game of chance like slots, but it’s not as much of a skill game as fantasy sports and poker.

States Allowing Blackjack

Similar to poker, you can play blackjack at almost, if not all, land-based casinos in the United States. You can also play blackjack online in six states – Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Miscellaneous Online Skill Games for Real Money

The skill games for real money we discussed so far include two classic casino games and one strategy betting game. They are not the only online skill games though. What if we told you that non-conspicuous games you loved playing with your friends can be actually examples of skill-based gambling?

Here are some of the best skill-based games:

• Scrabble – there are online versions of this game where you bet money to play against an AI or a real person. There are also many Scrabble tournaments with monetary prizes.
• Bridge – this team game can be played online for real money, and in some cases, you can join tournaments as well.
• Mahjong – many Americans play this game for fun, but in China, where the game originates from, it’s mostly seen as a skill-based game. Some websites offer betting on it.
• Backgammon – this highly-strategic game, which also offers a degree of chance due to the use of dice, is gaining popularity in the US and can be sometimes found online to be played for real money.
• Tonk – you might have not heard of this game, but it’s a classic card game, similar to rummy, originating in Louisiana. From its very conception, tonk, much like mahjong, was played for real money.