AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: Russia Says Poker Tourneys are Sport- Are They Exempt from Gambling Bill?
DATE: 2:52 AM
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BODY:
A landmark decision to classify Poker tournaments as an official sports<br>competition instead of a Gambling game was made by the Russian Sports<br>Minister for the &quot;Federal agency of physical culture and sport&quot;, Slava<br>Fetisov, on March 16, 2007. The decision is most significant because it may<br>permit poker tournaments to be exempt from falling under the Gambling bill<br>sponsored by President Putin and passed last November to tighten controls on<br>casino gambling and ultimately ban casino gambling except in four special<br>zones beginning 2009. It could also mean that casinos may no longer have to<br>pay $4,800 per poker table per month, on top of wages and complimentary food<br>and drinks provided, which makes it very expensive to offer poker games, as<br>a Russian Pokernetwork forum writer pointed out, which could lead to a poker<br>boom. Of more immediate concern to poker in Russia, the Gambling bill has a<br>July 2007 date to have shut down any gambling business with net assets below<br>600 million rubles and any casino smaller than 800 square meters, many of<br>which host poker games.
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