Russia Jumps Ship on Poker World
In a shocking move, Russia has changed the classification of poker out of ‘sports’ and has closed all of the gaming halls. The move is sure to throw their economy for a loop as over 400,000 people will now be left without employment and various other industries will feel the crunch as well.
The move is even more shocking with the recent surge of Russian talent in the poker world. The WSOP was littered with Russian poker players that had absolutely dominated performances. If these players cannot practice their trade in their homeland, this is even more money that will be stripped out of the economy.
The EPT has already pushed the panic button as they have been jockeying around a tournament that was to be played there later in the season and have now moved it altogether. The Moscow event has officially been cancelled and the replacement tournament will not be held in Kiev later in the season.
When Russia closed down all of its casinos earlier in the month, the bulk of them converted over to card clubs in order to be able to stay open. At the time, poker was classified as a sport and did not fall under the laws that had forced all of the casinos to close their doors. The new ruling changes all of that. With one fell swoop, all of these businesses were forced to close their doors.
The kicker behind all of this is that gambling was supposed to have been zoned to four specific areas in the country would be allowed to go on. The failure to designate these zones has both the general public and business owners up in arms over the move. Russia itself is in a horrible state of economics right now and this is only going to add to the problem.
When you force 400,000 people out of work during troubling times, you are asking for anarchy to take place. While using the word revolution may have been silly a few weeks ago, it may now take on a horrible sense of reality. The move itself just makes no sense whatsoever and there does not seem to be an explanation forthcoming anytime in the near future.
All of this happens of course when the PPA has just finished its lobbying of Capital Hill in an effort to legalize poker sites in the United States. You have to wonder if President Obama, with what some would consider socialist ways, will follow the Russian’s lead. We are sure that this is not the last that we will hear about this.
