Russia Wages War Against Online Poker Sites

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Monday, April 21st, 2014 | Written by Shane Larson

Back in November 2012, the Russian supreme court made ISP’s responsible for blocking gambling sites inside the world’s biggest country. However, no serious efforts were made to enforce the ruling until last month when Maxim Ksenzov, deputy head of Russia’s federal telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor, reported that a “request came straight from the prosecutor(s) office” requesting its list of blacklisted sites be blocked.

“The action was taken following an order issued back in June 2013,” explained Kseonzov, although “the prosecutor did not specify which part of the current regulation the decision is based on.”

As a result, on March 21st more than 50 gambling-related websites were blocked from offering their products inside Russia, including major gaming websites Pokerstars, Ladbrokes, SportingBet, UniBet, Betway and TitanPoker.

Russian watchdog Roskomnadzor

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) was established in 2012, and was originally tasked with blocking access to child pornography sites, websites encouraging illegal drug use, as well as those promoting other criminal activities. By the end of that year, a Supreme Court ruling subsequently made it against the law to “disseminate information that is restricted in accordance with Russian law, including, but not limited to, on gambling.”

Last September, major Russian Internet Service Provider (ISP) Beeline then blocked access to PokerStars‘ dot-com domain “in accordance with the legislation in force.” However, online players were easily able to get around the block by accessing other Domain Name Systems (DNS), like that of Google.

Will authorities next target the websites’ software?

Originally only the gambling websites found themselves blocked and not the servers, allowing Russian players to circumvent the ban and make their way towards the online virtual tables. The latest ISPs to block the gambling websites, however, namely MTS, Rostelecom, and Dom.ru, have got online poker players concerned that the Russian authorities will soon also be able to enforce a ban on the websites’ software as well.

Addressing the worries of alarmed players at the time, PokerStars released the following reassuring response: “We are aware of the recent situation in Russia. At this time we do not believe this changes our ability to offer services to Russian players. As such our operations continue as usual.. Our terms and conditions make it clear that our services are not for use in jurisdictions where it is illegal to do so, but the measures taken by Roskomnadzor, and the resulting action with the Common Registry of Banned Websites that prevents access to our PokerStars.COM website, does not affect [the] ability to continue playing at PokerStars.”

The biggest blow since Black Friday?

Russia has a huge population of 143.5 million people with the country’s vast amount of players making up a significant percentage of the online poker ecosystem. Following the measures taken by Russian authorities, players around the globe are rightly fearful this could signal the biggest threat to the online poker industry since Black Friday.

Even before Russia’s potential next move to lock down poker room software, operators are already beginning to leave the Russian market as they realize offering their services will now become a less profitable option in the future. These fleeing sites include Betclic, EverestPoker and Bet-at-home, while the Russian blacklisted Unibet Group has decided to stop accepting new players from Russia on both its Unibet.com and Maria.com. web domains.

Releasing a company statement, the firm explained: “Unibet has taken the decision to temporarily close registrations from Russia. This means that it will no longer be possible for customers from Russia to sign up on Unibet.com or Maria.com. This change will take place immediately, but will not affect existing customers. It will also still be possible for customers to sign up from all other Russian-speaking countries and those markets should not be affected at all. Russia will no longer be listed as an option for country of residence on the registration form of Unibet.com or Maria.com.”

Isolated measure or part of a wider operation?

Currently online gambling analysts are wondering whether Russia’s latest clamp down is merely an isolated measure, or more ominously an integral part of Russia’s wider operation to enforce the country’s anti-gambling policies. Unfortunately, many experts are warning this could just be the tip of the iceberg, with Gaming Intelligence pessimistically stating that “while a limited number of gaming domains currently appear on the list, it is believed that this is the start of a much wider crackdown on online gambling.”

If this is the case, several hundred more websites and operators could soon find themselves added to Russia’s infamous blacklist as the country wages its biggest battle ever against online gambling. How events subsequently unfold remains to be seen, but the situation is obviously concerning considering the global decline in online poker traffic witnessed ever since the US Department of Justice implemented its own purge on the industry back in 2011.