Jess Green 

Attorney at Law 

301 East Main 

Ada, OK 74820 

Re: "Ante-Up Tournament Blackjack" 

Dear Mr. Green: 

As requested in your letters of May 2,2003, and May 5,2003, and using the game 

description provided, we reviewed a blackjack tournament format referred to as "Eastern 

Shawnee Ante-Up Tournament Blackjack." We conclude that the proposed blackjack 

tournament cannot be considered a Class I1 gaming activity. Accordingly, we request the 

Tribe's gaming facilities not offer blackjack play in this format. 

Description 

The "ante-up" tournament is played in two stages: qualification and tournament 

championship. Each player must join the Blackjack Club to be eligible to play. During 

cj~alii~cation, players play blackjack under normal game rules and their playing time is 

recorded. The top 100 players based on playing time accrued during a month are eligible 

to play in the next monthly tournament championship. Players can also "re-buy" into the 

tournament championship by paying an "ante" to the house. 

During qualification, players buy chips from a cashier or the dealer and place bets 

on individual hands using the chips. Each player also pays an "ante" to the house based 

on the table limits for the game. The house keeps the ante to cover its expenses. Players 

compete against the dealer's hand. Players beat the dealer by forming a hand that totals 

21, or as close to 21 without going over. If a player beats the dealer he is awarded an 

amount of chips equal to the amount risked with a higher payout for obtaining a 

blackjack. If a player loses the bet or "busts" that amount is removed from his betting 

area and placed in the dealer rack. Every hand results in either a win for the player or a 

win for the dealer. The dealer pays each winning hand. The player may redeem chips for 

their designated cash value from the cashier. 

During the championship tournament, each player starts with a fixed number of 

points and plays through multiple elimination rounds for a grand prize by betting these 

points. The points are understood to not be redeemable for cash. Their value is confined 

to championship tournament play. Competitors play several hands during each 

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Jess Green 

Page 2 

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elimination round of the championship tournament and win a round or place second 

based on the number of points held at the end of the round. Prizes may be awarded at the 

conclusion of each round to these successful competitors as they advance to the final 

round where the grand prize is awarded. 

All prizes in the tournament championship are paid from a player pool. These 

prizes are established in advance and a "prize distribution" of the cash prizes for the 

tournament will be announced prior to the start of the first round of the championship. 

The player pool fund is defined as "those amounts that remain after club member wins 

have been paid." The fund "will accumulate over time based on the win/loss of the 

blackjack tables." This is understood to mean that, at the end of each business day during 

qualification play, the house will determine its net win-the amount of money bet at 

blackjack less the amount paid to winners. The remainder will then constitute the player 

pool contribution for the day. The house administers the player pool and represents that 

it has no interest in the fund. However, the fund is to be seeded by the house and, under 

the rules for administration of the fund, the house must guarantee that the fund will 

always have a balance of $1 00,000. The house will loan the fund any moneys needed to 

maintain the balance and accept repayment of the loan when the fund will support such a 

repayment. The house exercises hll responsibility for administering the find and, in 

addition to paying prizes fiom the fund in the championship tournament, will distribute 

the fund in a "Player Prize Lottery" held periodically or as player club comps that are 

otherwise unexplained. P ihw 1' 

Requirements for Blackjack Tournament Play 

The legal basis for concluding that tournament blackjack play constitutes Class XI 

gaming in Oklahoma was set forth in advisory opinions fiom the NIGC's Office of 

General Counsel in letters dated July 9, 1999, and January 15,2003. Each letter stressed 

the importance of bona fide tournament play as a condition to invoking an exception 

established in Oklahoma law to the general prohibition of gambling card games. 

The Eastern Shawnee Ante-up Blackjack Tournament does not meet the 

description of a toumament as envisioned in our earlier letters. Because "toumament" is 

not defined in IGRA, in regulations of the NIGC, or in statutes of the State of Oklahoma, 

we rely on a common usage definition of the term. A "tournament" is defined as a "a 

contest involving a number of competitors who vie against each other in a series 

of elimination games or trials." (Webster's I1 New College Dictionary, 1995.) In the first 

phase of the "ante-up" tournament format, players are not engaged in a "series of 

elimination games or trials." Instead, players play standard blackjack during this 

"qualifying play." Players purchase chips and play against the dealer's hand. Player's 

winning bets are paid by the dealer with cash-value chips. The argument that these bets 

are compensated from moneys that would otherwise flow into a "players pool" at the end 

of the day does not change the simple fact that the game plays as a standard, house 

banked, blackjack game. Players buy chips fiom the house, bet those chips, win or lose 

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