As most of you should know by now, gambling is prohibited on our server. Occasionally we'll get players asking "what constitutes gambling?" - sometimes in good faith, sometimes not. But we feel it is time to try and put this debate to bed with a formal statement/thread on the matter.

Gambling:
This relates to any event run by a player with a non-guaranteed outcome, requiring other players to pay an entry fee in Pokemon, items or money. This includes anything resembling the following:

• Raffles, gacha or other similar loot box games for random items/Pokemon
• Casino style games where you may win a prize or you may win nothing, based purely on luck
• Lotteries
• Any event charging an entry fee where the prize pot is not given out in full to either the winner, or a predetermined number of top performers (where this number is made abundantly clear before entering) - so no charging a total of 1 million coins from players and only paying out 10,000 to a winner, for example. Drop parties using donated items are perfectly legal as long as the person running it does not keep any donated items for themselves.
• Any event charging an entry fee where there is a subjective judgement from a player rather than an objective winner - so no build battles can charge entry fees for example
• Betting on the outcome of any event, be it player-based or otherwise
• "Pink slip" events where the winner takes the loser's Pokemon, items or money

Please note this is NOT an exhaustive list. There may be something we have not immediately thought of and not placed on here, but that does not mean it is legal. If you have any doubt, ask an admin. Engaging in gambling is bannable behavior and may carry a severe punishment due to the potential harm it can cause - so don't do it.

And as for the question "how does this differ from crate keys":

The main thing with crate keys is that, as a server, we can guarantee you will get something, and we can guarantee what you will get as one of the items in that crate (barring a bug, which is our responsibility to fix). Player-based events, even from trustworthy players, will never have these kind of guarantees, and are far more likely to breed resentment if the items issued out are perceived to have anything shady related to them. Since we can't engage in favoritism to any players, we have to take a universal approach in outlawing anything that is not centrally controlled and is clearly and visibly the same for everyone.