While online gaming – including online poker – is not currently legal in Russia, it hasn’t stopped most online gaming operators from offering services to country’s 144 million residents. However, it may become more difficult for online gaming companies to operate within Russia due to a new Finance Bill introduced by the country’s Finance Ministry, which if passed would prohibit banks from processing any online gaming transactions. The bill has strong support, including that of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is believed to have pushed for the bill to be presented to the country’s legislators. While this bill, if passed,…

Russian authorities have started blocking websites operated by a host of major gambling operators, keeping to a pledge it made earlier this year. In February, the Roskomnadzor media regulator said it would agree to a request from the government for stronger control over access to unauthorised gambling sites in the country. Having commenced this blocking process last month, the Bookamersrating.ru website has reported that the agency has now started to block sites operated by some of the more major brands in the industry. Over the past few days, the likes of bwin.party, Ladbrokes, Unibet, 888 Poker and Betway have all…