Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the multi-millionaire Russian businessman, former president of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia, and head of the World Chess Federation, says that online poker “should be legalized; too many people are involved and are playing online. There are no reasons that it should be hidden and illegal.” He has proposed that poker should be included in the International Mind Sports Association -- representing chess, bridge, checkers and the Chinese game of Go -- of which he is also president.
Whatever the niceties of poker's categorization, which has also exercised Dutch courts in the past, legalizing online poker makes sense for Russia. It would boost the government coffers at a time of need. And, by following the French model in which regulatory powers go to the Ministry of Finance, rather than a sporting agency, the government could do much to ensure the resulting revenues don't get waylaid by oligarchs.
In any case, it's clear that the presumed goal of criminalization -- to discourage the game's spread in Russia -- is not being achieved. Despite being widely considered less prestigious than chess, online poker's potential financial rewards ensure the game’s continued popularity. Making online poker illegal has done nothing to prevent Russians from playing on websites that belong to foreign companies, or to Russian ones registered abroad. The sole impact of legalization would be to bring that business onshore.
And who knows, maybe poker will become the 21st century equivalent for Russians of Soviet chess -- played across the nation's parks and producing an array of globe-trotting champions, who are treasured at home and ambassadors for Russian intellectual prowess abroad.