PokerStars suspends operation in Russia

PokerStars joined an increasing list of major companies that are pulling out of the Russian market.

Earlier this week PokerStars issued a short tweet announcing their decision to suspend operation in Russia. The exact wording of the brief tweet was “Important update: we are suspending all our services in Russia.”

The reactions to PokerStars suspends operation in Russia

The tweet received a mixed reply with many cheering and defending the move in support of Ukraine, while others argued against the move unfairly punishing regular Russian citizens for the acts of their government and military. Some supporters of the move also suggested that PokerStars extend the suspension to players from Belarus, a Russian ally.

This is the second time in the last year that PokerStars has made a change to its services in Russia. The first, which took place in the fall of 2021, was due to a change in Russian gaming regulations. PokerStars removed Russian players from their international platform and player pool after Russian regulations were changed and allowed Russian citizens to only access online gambling sites that were limited to Russians.

Due to this change PokerStars launched the PokerStarsinSochi site, which has now been suspended.

The suspension of PokerStars isn’t the first poker cancellation to hit Russia since the Ukraine invasion. Last week the European Poker Tour cancelled the EPT Sochi tour stop. The event was originally scheduled to run from March 18-27 at the Sochi Casino & Resort.

The event was originally postponed until October 2022 due to safety reasons, before being permanently cancelled a few days later.