Poker in Ukraine could be about to surge following the low-key news that legislators have approved the addition of the game to the national Register of Recognised Sports.
InfoPowa readers will recall that terrible tragedy in 2009 when nine Ukrainians were killed in a gambling hall fire, triggering something of a legislative over-reaction that saw gambling banned, with poker reclassified as gambling the following year.
Several years later, in 2013 poker clubs organised themselves into an action group and took the bans to the Supreme Court, arguing that poker depends more on skill than chance. They were partly successful as the court lifted the ban on tournament poker but continued to rule against cash game activity.
Now that legislators have moved on the issue of recognising poker as a sport, legislation with licensing and taxation provisions will presumably have to be made, hopefully including the online environment..