Chances Raise for Regulated Online Poker in Russia

Online poker in Russia might get legalized in the future as the federation’s government is examining the potentials and benefits.

Poker might get officially reclassified as a game of skill in Russia. Online gambling news claim that the government aims at a regulated online poker market to generate revenue for sports facilities and ventures. The first steps were made in 2014, when Igor Shuvalov the Russian Deputy Prime Minister ordered a study on the involvement of skill in poker.

In this year’s August, there was a meeting to discuss the outcome of the study, which declared poker a game of skill. However, there were no concrete decisions made concerning the regulation of online gaming. Sources say that if it happens the Russian Government will require all operators to store the user data on Russia based servers.

Will there be legislated online poker in Russia?

Sportingnews.com reported that legislated online poker sites in Russia might get reintroduced to fund their chess team and other sports entities. They’ve talked about 12 Million Swiss Francs that could be collected from regulated online poker just for the chess teams. Russian players have a really prominent place in the world of poker with names like Vladimir Troyanovskiy or Antaloy Filatov.

Russian President Vladimir Putin commissioned a study to examine the potential tax revenues from online poker and their use in sports. The taxes on operators and players could bring 5 billion rubles (145 million dollars) to fund Russian sporting ventures. Until 2009, Russia was well known for their liberal stance on poker.