As federal court decisions go, Justice Sean Harrington knows that if you’re gonna play the game, you better learn to play it right.

The federal judge got creative with a decision on a deportation case that dealt with international law and the nature of poker, referencing part of a verse and chorus from Kenny Rogers’ 1978 hit, “The Gambler.”

The case revolved around Ofer Cohen, an Israeli citizen who visited a friend in Canada in 2013 but was ordered to leave by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada because of a gambling website he had set up.

The website, which ran from July to September 2009, was run by Cohen along with two other men in Israel, Sharon Alaluf and Uri Luzon. After Luzon was arrested for unrelated drug charges, both men were charged with running prohibited games. An arrest warrant was issued for Cohen, but he had already left Israel.

The Immigration and Refugee Board, in its decision to deport Cohen, said because they believed setting up the website was a criminal offence in Israel, it made Cohen inadmissible to Canada.

But Harrington said that was not conclusively proved, despite the arrest warrant, because under Israeli law, a prohibited game depends “more on chance than on understanding or ability,” and certain forms of poker may be games of skill rather than luck.

“If more a game of skill, the deportation order issued . . . against Mr. Cohen was unreasonable and must be set aside,” Harrington said in his decision.

Cohen’s website focused on the No Limit Texas Hold’em variant of poker. No Israeli court decision mentions it as a prohibited game, Harrington noted.

“Israeli courts have not held that all forms of poker are prohibited games. There has not been a blanket condemnation of poker as such,” Harrington said in his decision.

Because of that, Harrington approved Cohen’s request for judicial review, and quashed the decision by the immigration board.

Cohen has left Canada, but Harrington said the decision was still important, as it could impact whether Cohen would ever be allowed to return.

Closing his argument, Harrington let Rogers do the talking.

“If you’re gonna play the game, boy / You better learn to play it right / You got to know when to hold ’em / Know when to fold ’em / Know when to walk away.”

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