Russian Poker faces Big Uncertainty
At a time when many Americans are still worried about whether poker will ever be totally legal in the United States, Russians have to worry about whether they’ll even be eligible to play the game again. That’s because the Russian government voted to ban poker as a sport in the country which effectively means they don’t want people playing at all.
This is a huge blow to the game of poker in general since it was just starting to take off in Russia as can be seen by the number of good players from the country. This really makes me wonder what players like Ivan Demidov and Vitaly Lunkin will do now that it is deemed illegal for them to play for money.
Of course there are many people in the country who are optimistic about the situation and believe the laws are too gray to stop poker. Plus many Russians think that the law is more of a way to rid Russia of all the underground poker clubs which operate in the country.
But even if this line of thinking is true, playing poker in Russia will no doubt be much more dangerous from a legal standpoint for those who choose to wager money on the game. I’m not sure what the penalties are as of yet for those caught betting on poker, but I’m willing to bet that it could include jail time.
Even if this is the case, there is no way that Russia will be able to stop everyone from playing poker - especially in friendly home games. I just hope that the laws on poker don’t ever get that bad in the states!