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…

Poker News – If it would not have been for his victory at the €10,000 Turbo Six-Max event during PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Russia’s Vitaly Lunkin’s last trip to Europe’s sunniest shores would have been a disaster. “I spent about €65,000 in buy-ins and I was in the money only three times,” Lunkin told PokerNews. “Had I not won the €10,000 turbo event, my tour would have ended with a loss.” During the month in which he spent time around Italy and France, things did not go too well for Lunkin. Russia’s third all-time biggest…

iGaming Business – Russian president Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft bill to parliament to designate the seceded Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea as a legal gambling zone. As reported by iGaming Business last month, Russian officials were reported to be considering a proposal to introduce a gambling zone with casinos and hotels to the region. According to the Wall Street Journal newspaper, Putin submitted the bill on Monday in the hope of pushing forward with these plans. Sergei Aksyonov, acting leader of Crimea, told the Itar-Tass news agency last week that if the bill does pass then the region plans…

A month after it was placed on the country’s Internet blacklist, Malta-based Nordic OMX listed public company Unibet Group plc has decided to withdraw from Russia and will be stopping to accept new players from the country on both Unibet.com and Maria.com. The decision was announced on Thursday with communication sent to Unibet’s partners. The room also specified that although all of its platforms will not be accepting Russia’s players from here on out, the decision will not have any consequence for Russian citizens who already have an active account with either Unibet or Maria. “Unibet has taken the decision…

Russian authorities have updated the country’s Internet blacklist nearly 600 different websites, including online poker sites, in an operation that some consider to be the first step of a major crackdown on online gambling. With a standard procedure that is usually adopted for censoring websites promoting child pornography and illegal drugs, on March 21, Russia’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) blocked access to a large number of online gambling sites including international giants like PokerStars, partypoker, Unibet and Titan Poker. “The request came straight from the prosecutor office,” said Maxim Ksenzov, the deputy head of Russia’s federal telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor, when…