WAAG: Russia: Online Casinos
Russia has made headlines this year with the country’s decision to banish land
casinos to the farthest corners of the country. That decision though might have
been a bit hasty because the Russian government did not have the policies and
legislation in place to stop a substitute industry from cropping up all across
the country. The land gambling venues were ousted from the major cities in July
of 2009 and the online casinos have rapidly begun to pick up the slack. Now,
that is not to say that internet gambling is legal in Russia, in fact, quite the
opposite. In 2006 (yes, ironically the same year the controversial US
legislation, the UIGEA passed into effect) the Russian enacted a law that
prohibits all forms of online gambling.
In fact, the legislation goes so far as to also prohibit any forms of gambling
that rely on telecommunications, which means that mobile gambling is not likely
to take off in Russia anytime soon. This online casino gambling related
legislation has been in place for several years now but interestingly enough
does not have the teeth yet to really enforce the anti-internet gambling laws.
As the land gambling venues exited the Russian market (well the major cities at
least), many of those same venues have turned themselves into internet cafes and
are now offering up portals to the internet gambling industry outside of Russia.
The Russian government is certainly not pleased with the new surge in online
casino gambling activity and it might be safe to say that the government did not
anticipate that Russians would so quickly and easily fill the gab left by the
exit of the land gambling industry. The government is at a stand-still right now
and no clear efforts have been implemented to halt the expansion of the internet
casinos. |