The game of poker has become very popular in the Czech Republic in the last two years. 60,000 Czechs are said to be playing poker, about 1,000 are organized into 19 official clubs across the country.

Czech newspaper “The Prague Post” has recently reported that members of the national association of poker clubs want poker to be recognized as an official and serious kind of sport. In their opinion, being recognized as a sport, poker will get rid of its image being run by mafia and targeting foreign tourists. Official recognition is believed to cut down on this through state regulation.