Gary:

"... but does NOT mean that it is an advantage or a disadvantage to play a high or low rated player. It also means that the range of ratings from the top player to the lowest player will be much smaller than in 100% skill-based games."

Sorry I don't agree with this. The problem with playing lower rated players at backgammon with the USCF rating system is the reward/penalty favours the lower-rated player. You risk around 30 points to gain 2 when his chances of winning are say 40% - it just is not worth the risk. We were in this situation at Gold Token and in the end the top players refused to play the bottom players for this reason.