Ukraine Reverses Previous Poker Decision
Written by RogerCP | Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
When the Ukrainian government made a decision back in July that the game of poker should be included as an official sport in the country, players celebrated the news. As part of the list of sports recognized in the Ukraine, poker players could go about their gaming sessions and tournaments, safe in the knowledge that they were not breaking any laws and not participating in any ‘gambling’ activity. What made the Ukrainian government’s decision even better was the fact that a leading country was finally recognizing that poker is a game of a skill and not of chance.
However, while Ukrainian poker players enjoyed six months of poker bliss, their celebrations were short lived. Recently, the Justice Ministry posted an announcement on its official website Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that it had reached a conclusion regarding the future of poker in the country.
Essentially, the Justice Ministry stated that it had rescinded its previous decision reached on July 1, 2009 which had placed poker on the list of recognized sports in the country.
“The item on inclusion of sport poker doesn’t correspond to article 2 of the law of Ukraine ‘On banning the gambling business in Ukraine’ according to which the gambling business and participation in gambling are prohibited,” read the website statement.
In October, the Russian based Alsart group opened the first of 20 planned poker clubs in the Ukraine, in the hope of cashing in from an expected influx of Russian players who were forbidden from participating in the game by their own government last year. In July 2009, the Russian government also removed poker as a recognized sport in the country.
A deadly fire in a small provincial arcade during the summer of 2009 led the Ukrainian government to close every legal casino and slot hall in the country.
The Alsart Group saw the Ukrainian government’s (then) recognition of poker as a sport, together with the vacant properties of past gambling establishments waiting to be filled, as excellent ingredients to jump start the poker industry in the country.
Since July, many poker tournaments have been held in the country.
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· Written by RogerCP · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
