House folds, lawmakers stand

Another loophole for Russian gamblers closed last week with the banning of poker, after the game was removed from the list of official sports. The move followed a ban on gambling which became effective 1st July.
The ban, which outlawed gambling in Russia outside of four far-flung exemption zones, had left a small loophole for poker. In March 2007, three variations of the game - 7-card stud poker, Omaha and Texas Hold'Em - were added to the list of official sports. That status was withdrawn on July 20.
Vitaly Mutko, minister for sport, tourism and youth, told Vedomosti that poker's original inclusion on the list of sports had not been processed correctly.
"The decision to include poker on the sports register should have been made by a special ministerial commission, not by the administration of the Russian Sports Agency. In addition, the decision was supposed to be registered in the Justice Ministry, which did not happen," he said.
About a third of all gambling operators had plans to turn their casinos into venues for poker tournaments, Vedomosti reported, but the government was apparently concerned about illegal gambling dens springing up under the cover of poker clubs.
Shortly before the decision concerning poker, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed a clampdown on illegal gambling, RIA Novosti reported.
"We are now seeing attempts to camouflage gambling enterprises as other businesses, which outwardly do not look like gambling. We need to think about how to close these loopholes," said Putin, adding that poker was one of the activities being used as a cover.
Dmitry Lesnoi, president of the Sports Poker Federation, complained that operators had almost no time to close their venues. Businesses had two and a half years after the ban on gambling was passed, before the ban took effect earlier this month. Raids on poker clubs began almost immediately, he said.
"I didn't imagine things would turn out this way. We are in a state of mourning," Lesnoi said in a statement posted on the Federation's web site. "Forgive us! We have lost. But we fought fairly, as long as there was a card on the table."
Three days after the poker ban came into effect, five businesses in Moscow were found still operating poker tables, the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on its web site.
Lesnoi said his federation would not resist the ban.
"We're considering an appeal, but I must say first that I will not be doing this," Lesnoi told RIA Novosti, adding that he felt "humiliated".
The government's crusade against gambling has led to the cancellation of the European Poker Tour event in Moscow, scheduled to run from August 17-23. It would have featured about 500 players from Russia and abroad.
Some of Russia's top poker professionals, including Ivan Demidov, are already considering relocating to other countries. Demidov was the first player in history to make it to the World Series of Poker in both Europe and the US. His winnings currently exceed $ 6.5 million.
Professional players aren't the only ones wondering where their livelihood has gone. Club operators are also considering relocating. Poker Club Management, a company which offers consulting to entrepreneurs in the poker business, said that their clients are looking to reopen their clubs abroad.
Hot Dogs Poker Club, one of the clubs found by authorities still in operation after the ban came into force, is also considering opening poker clubs abroad. Several days after the raid, its web site was not working.
Pokernews, one of the several poker publications in the countrywill continue publishing, said its commercial director, Olga Borisenko. "At the moment, the publication of poker magazines is still an open question," she said. Pokernews currently has a circulation of 50,000.
The legal status of private poker playing in the home was not immediately clear from the ministry's statements.