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Due to the ongoing financial crisis in Russia, many industry analysts believe that now more than ever online poker could become legalized and regulated in the country.

It is estimated that as many as 20 percent of Russia's population of 144 million is playing poker on the Internet and contributing a huge amount of liquidity to online poker rooms. Former British MP and International Business Times contributor Paul Keetch reported that 8.4 percent of the PokerStars customer base is from Russia, according to data from the world's largest poker room.

Since poker is not regulated in Russia, it is believed that the government is currently not receiving any tax revenue from gaming operators. The rumors surrounding online poker regulation therefore not only have the attention of the poker community, but taxation specialists as well.

Russian poker player Maxim Katz recently commented about this, stating that, "In particular, poker went underground after the ban. The game did decline, but not for long. And the [national] budget stopped receiving taxes."

Rumors began heating up earlier in the year when news broke that the Russian government is considering designating poker as a game of skill. Many believe this could help open the doors in creating a regulated online poker licensing scheme in the country.

This viewpoint also has the endorsement of the World Chess Federation, with the head of the organization, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, stating to the International Business Times that "Concerning online poker and its legalization in Russia, it should be legalized; too many people are involved and are playing online. There are no reasons that it should be hidden and illegal. I've prepared my proposals concerning legalisation of online poker in Russia and have presented them to the Russian government. And I am working together with the government in order to allow online poker to become an intellectual sport in Russia."

Ilyumzhinov's support is believed to be influential, as the multi-millionaire businessman has the ear of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is also been influential with the Kremlin in the past.


Taxation May Lead the Way To Online Poker Legislation in Russia | PokerNews

Russian poker pro Alex “joiso” Kostritsyn won $710,000 over the past seven days on the Internet, according to tracking data from HighstakeDB. It was the most in the online poker world during the stretch.

It took him roughly 9,400 hands to win the amount, which bested “supernova9” ($438,000), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky ($214,000), “fjutekk” ($136,000) and Mikael “ChaoRen160” Thuritz ($102,000). Kostritsyn put in more volume than anyone on the leader board.

Kostritsyn was the winner of the third largest pot of the week, a $171,000 hand on Tuesday at PokerStars’ $250-$500 pot-limit Omaha, without getting to showdown.

Playing three-handed against “Trueteller” and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Kostritsyn raised a button opening bet from Blom to $5,000, and Trueteller four-bet to $16,500. Blom surrendered his $1,500, and Kostritsyn made the call with roughly $120,000 behind versus Trueteller’s $240,000 stack.


(Players who lost small on the week include Dan “w00ki3z” Cates and Alex “Kanu7” Millar. Cates, who had a rare losing year in 2015, has been stuck in reverse to the tune of $430,000 so far in 2016. Only Millar (-$574,000) has lost more.)



Online Poker: Alex Kostritsyn Wins $700K In A Week

More money to the rich people :1orglaugh

The $154 billion New York budget proposal contains the possibility that online poker could be legalised and regulated to bring more money into the coffers of the state.

Will New York legalise online poker?

I’m not sure about that, but the paperwork that will ultimately force the state to see sense is still causing paper cuts throughout the halls of political power in the Big Apple.

Senators and Assemblymen who support the legalisation and regulation of online poker have been throwing bills at archaic institutions with more frequency than Phil Taylor throws his darts at that sliver of red.

Most of them eventually miss the board.

The politicians walk over, pick them up, tighten them up, and go back to the oche to throw them again. It’s not a strategy that’s been working very effectively. Or perhaps it is? Perhaps we have to eat slowly away at the cliff face over time?

The one bill that’s currently battering that cliff face is S 5302. Submitted in May 2015 by Senator John Bonacic it passed the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee by a vote of 9-0 in Feb 2016. Bonacic is the chairman of that committee. The next stage was for the bill to find its way to the Senate Financial Committee for further eyeballing and that’s where it remains.

Speaking about that move at the time Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director, John Pappas urged the Finance Committee ‘to move quickly to usher legislation through the Senate.’

That didn’t happen, but what has happened is the New York Senate has included the wording of the bill in their $154 billion budget bill due for a rubber stamp in April. It could be significant. It might not. Perhaps, it’s included with a barrage of other potential cash generators on a ‘just in case’ basis, or they could be seriously considering the $10m license fees and 15% taxation that online poker would generate.

The Stars Are Aligning

OK, I know my only understanding of politics comes from House of Cards, but I don’t believe online poker is illegal in the state of New York because there is a fear New Yorkers will suddenly develop gambling addictions. There will be something else at work.

Take Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as an example. The sport has exploded on a global level in recent years, and everyone except the most hardened boxing fan has to admit that the art of the pugilist has turned into a tickling contest when compared to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

However, New York is the only state in the US where MMA is illegal. Here’s the best bit and why I loathe politics so much. The story presented regarding the illegality of MMA is one of barbarity. However, UFC president Dana White has a different view, and one I think carries a lot of weight. Speaking to europe-newsweek-com White said of the ban:

“It has nothing to do with mixed martial arts. It has to do with the Culinary Union. The Culinary Union is spending millions of dollars of all these people who pay dues to keep us out of there because my partners, the Fertitta brothers, are the largest non-union gaming company in the country.”

It seems someone may have done something to please the Culinary Union because the State Assembly recently passed a bill to legalize the sport, and it reportedly has the backing of New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.

While online poker might not have the strength to bring the cliff walls crashing down. The persistent battering of online poker, MMA and Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) might do the job. Regulation of DFS is also included in April’s budget plan.

In an article written by the New York Times, Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a Democrat who opposes the MMA bill said: “When will it stop? When will we simply say: ‘You know what? We don’t have to go along with every other state?”

And if the real reasons behind the lock down on online poker and DFS was because of fears of gambling problems, and the lock down on MMA was the fear of people putting ankle locks on strangers in the street, then he would have a point.

But it’s not is it?

Some people think it’s about money.

I tend to side with Frank Underwood’s view on things:

“Money is the Mc-mansion in Sarasota that starts falling apart after 10 years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries. I cannot respect someone who doesn’t see the difference.”





New York Includes Online Poker Language in State Budget | Online Poker News : CalvinAyre-com

Regulated US online poker’s recent track record of being shunted out of the way in favor of trendier subjects continues in New York State, where advocates of a prominent pro-poker measure are now admitting that there’s little chance of movement on the topic this year. It’s more of the same-old, same-old for online poker in the US, whether the attention has been hampered by competing market interests (as in California) or attention to the hottest news topcs (daily fantasy sports) as has happened in several other states.

In New York, generally regarded as one of the most likely US states to approve regulated online poker in the near future, the delay is largely DFS-induced. Appearing via an online hookup at last week’s iGaming North America 2016 conference, New York State Assemblyman Gary Pretlow cast his doubts on online poker’s chances for 2016 in the Empire State.

“With online poker, there are some issues there and we’re not really prepared to introduce legislation that’s going to go to the floor for a vote,” said Pretlow. He and fellow NY state legislator John Bonacic have been among the driving forces for online-poker regulation in the state, which now finds itself buried behind the attention-grabbing DFS legal issue and New York’s own ongoing, land-based casino expansion plans. “You’re looking at a 100-1 shot to hit the floor, a 1,000-1 shot to hit the floor,” added Pretlow.

Pretlow also hinted at unspecified “constitutional issues” in his brief, enthusiasm-dampening statement. The online-poker topic had made it into preliminary New York State budget discussions, before being pulled from later budget talks. New York, as with several other states where online-poker bills have been introduced, is home to some tribal gaming operations. Whether any of the NY tribes have taken a hardline stance behind the scenes, similar to what occurred in California, remains unknown; however, tribal gaming interests have proven to have had a largely negative impact on online-poker regulatory efforts across the US.

Given the general support that Bonacic’s Senate Bill 5302 and Pretlow’s matching Assembly bill had enjoyed, it’s been a surprise. Bonacic’s bill even passing an early committee vote on a unanimous 9-0 count, upon which time it’s been effectively pigeon-holed. The development was, perhaps, not wholly unexpected, but it’s a sad turn of events nonetheless. Instead, NY legislators’ collective attention has been forcibly dragged over to the DFS front, in large part due to the high-visibility lawsuits brought by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman against the two largest operators in that space, DraftKings and FanDuel.

Schneiderman’s NY AG office recently announced a partial settlement in the DraftKings/FanDuel cases, but even that settlement implied that the whole DFS issue in New York be brought before the state’s legislative bodies sooner rather than later. And that’s left Bonacic’s SB 5302 adrift and behind what most legislators view as more urgent needs.

It’s an ironic twist when one considers that the DFS industry would never have grown the way it did had online poker’s “Black Friday” occurred in 2011 – an event that celebrated its unhappy fifth anniversary just yesterday. The US online-poker industry accidentally created modern, online DFS, and due to DFS’ own legal issues has to wait behind its own creation for a chance to return to its old market grounds. Optimistic estimations post-Black Friday often asserted that 12-15 states were likely to legalize online poker in the first five years or so after the major gray market sites were forced to leave. Reality, as we have seen, has been much slower.



New York Online Poker Efforts Lag as DFS Battle Garners Attention -