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In the US, they play poker with silver bars

The US has very different attitudes towards gambling. Each state has its own laws regarding gamblers and the industry as a whole. Recently, Chicago hosted a poker tournament in which the winners received silver bars instead of dollars. The fact is that Illinois has special legislative requirements that limit cash payments to gamblers.

The tournament, which was organized by the Midway Poker Tour, was held offline. The buy-in was quite high and amounted to $1,100. At the same time, the guarantee amounted to $100,000. Due to the peculiarities of the legislation, the tournament was held in a charitable form. According to state laws, this format does not imply the payment of prize amounts that are higher than $500 with rake from the entry fee.

The decision to pay out such strange prize money was made spontaneously, although similar situations had already occurred in the USA. Instead of the usual banknotes, the winners were paid silver coins and bars. The total prize fund was over $260,000. 266 poker players participated in the tournament. The winner was supposed to receive $55,000, which was paid in silver bars.

It is very likely that the tournament organizers did not intend to use such a complex scheme to pay out prize money. However, the tournament was unexpectedly visited by representatives of the local prosecutor's office and the organizers had to urgently purchase bars from authorized dealers. Moreover, this was done in a neighboring state, since for some reason purchasing bars in Illinois was not possible.

In fact, such decisions look a bit strange, since silver is also a financial instrument. Accordingly, it can also be used as a reward. According to the strange laws of some states, you can play for anything except money. Probably, no one will be surprised if next time something more exotic than silver bars appears as a prize at stake.