- 888poker is the latest global online gaming operator to exit Russia, following on from PokerStars’ withdrawal last week.
- Unibet and partypoker, both of which left the Russian market prior to the outbreak of war, have announced a sudden departure from Belarus.
- Russia is one of the largest online poker markets in the world and any changes to operations impact the global online poker landscape.
- The global online poker industry has fallen markedly since the onset of war.
- GGPoker saw its traffic fall quickly in the last week of February, but it has all but recovered in the last two weeks.
- Traffic at Russian-exclusive PokerDom has soared in recent days.
“All 888poker operations in Russia will be suspended starting March 15th, until further notice.”
The global online poker industry is going through a dramatic upheaval as operators adopt different policies in the wake of the Russo-Ukrainian war and sanctions in the region.
888poker is the latest global online gaming operator to exit Russia, following on from PokerStars’ withdrawal last week. Other operators, however, remain in the market and are seeing their traffic surge as players shift their play.
“All 888poker operations in Russia will be suspended starting March 15th, until further notice,” a spokesperson told PRO in a statement late on Monday.
It follows on from the hard exit of PokerStars from the country last Wednesday. As first reported on pokerfuse, players do not have access to their funds. The operator has assured that they are “kept in segregated accounts … never used for operating expenses” and will be returned “when the situation changes.”
It is thought to be the first time in over a decade that players’ deposits with PokerStars — famously, one of the most trustworthy and dependable online poker operators in the world — were not instantly accessible to players. Even during the events known as “Black Friday,” when the US DOJ seized the domains of PokerStars and others in 2011, freezing 75 bank accounts and hundreds of millions of dollars, PokerStars still reinstated US player cashouts within 10 days. Russian customer deposits are expected to be in limbo much longer.
Meanwhile, Unibet and partypoker — both of which left the Russian market prior to the outbreak of war — have announced a sudden departure from Belarus, PRO understands.
