Poker has officially been recognised as a sport in Russia.
The move took many by surprise, as it comes at the same time as legislation is introduced to ban casino gambling in Russia, and to restrict casinos to four special zones – none of which are either in or near Moscow.
The decision to classify poker as a sport in Russia means that, while casinos may be laying off staff left, right and centre, poker rooms are springing up all over the place to replace them.
The news is a massive boost to the game (sorry – sport) in Russia, especially as it comes just a few months after Ivan Demidov’s stunning second place in last year’s World Series of Poker tournament – a result which netted Demidov a cool $5.8 million.
However, it’s not yet clear how official recognition will affect online poker in Russia. Nick Wilsden notes that online gaming in Russia:
“has been in legal limbo since 2006, after the law, “About the State Regulation of Activities on Gambling” was passed. Although this law was targeted at the offline casino industry it contained one sentence which indicated that online gaming would be disallowed.”
The legal situation may be uncertain, but the big poker sites are expanding aggressively into Russia anyway. Betfair recently announced that they would open their doors to Russian Poker Players.
Pokerstars, though, have been the most aggressive in trying to capture the Russian poker market. They not only accept Russian players online, but last year launched the Russian Poker Tour, with events in St Petersburg and Moscow, as well as online qualifiers.
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I completely agree with this move. In poker skillz will always trounce luck on a long enough timescale.
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2 points:
1. Poker Rooms are NOT a replacement for casinos. Poker brings in very, very revenue. Generally, each poker table plays the establishment where the game is being played a “rake.” The size of the rake is generally 10% of the amount in a game. Therefore, while poker, specifically Texas Hold’em, may be the hottest new craze in Russia, it will have zero to little affect on the situation concerning gambling in Russia.
2. None of the 4 gaming zones are even close to being ready to host gamblers come July 1st. The Las vegas theory of “build it anywhere (even a desert) and they will come” has proved incorrect in Russia. The four gaming zones lack even the most basic infrastructure. Instead, what the Russian federal government should do is “grandfather” all casinos for another 5 years (until after February 2014) and declare that the Black Sea coast and another in the Far East (Vladivostok)will be the primary gaming zones. Any casino operator would be able to apply for a license to open a casino along the Black Sea coast BEFORE 2014. After February 2014, ALL casino in the rest of the country would be shut down.
One key point is that the socially negative impact from gambling is much more directly related to “Game Clubs” (i.e. slot machine halls), not the actual casinos. The people who go to casinos, generally, are able to afford to lose money gambling while the folks who stop in to the Game Clubs are not. “Average Joes” are taking their paychecks and playing the slots and that is causing most of the social problems.
Therefore, as of July 1st, 2009, the Federal government could easily shut down all Game Clubs throughout the country but leave open the large casinos and they would kill two birds with one stone. Namely, the casinos would provide an outlet for people who want to gamble and this would prevent the industry from going “underground” and thus, being unregulated and untaxable. Additionally, by closing the Game Clubs the small-time gambler would be less likely to blow his paycheck on a Friday evening.
Finally, this solution would allow the government to take action to clean-up the gaming industry further but not damage the country in the process.
I’m not sure how seriously the ban on casinos is being taken. I noticed about 1-2 years ago several casinos in Sakhalin were shut down with the new laws as being cited as the reason why, but strangely those casinos allegedly owned by the local governor remained open for business. And the slot machine halls which were all removed are now making a comeback. I suspect it is the usual case of a vague law being drafted in Moscow and applied arbitrarily and inconsistently in the more remote provinces.
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