Ukraine Crisis: How Will It Impact the Poker Industry?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to financial sanctions on Russia, including the Russian Central Bank, and the Russian ruble has lost close to half of its value against the US dollar. Russian banks are being locked out of the SWIFT banking system, which will interrupt international trade in Russia and threaten Russian firms with bankruptcy. This situation will make it difficult for Russian players to transfer money to and from online poker platforms.

Crypto poker sites or regular platforms that conduct transfers in cryptocurrency could be a saving grace for the Russian poker community. However, this will still limit playing options to some degree. Many poker businesses might not welcome Russian players due to moral support for Ukraine. The world has turned to support Ukraine during this crisis almost exclusively, with only a few countries showing support for Russia's actions.

The removal of Russian players from the player pool could harm online poker considerably. Post-Black Friday, Russian players have made up a large percentage of the player pool. Losing those numbers overnight risks forcing some major platforms into making changes to compensate, which won't be positive for the rest of us. There is also going to be a huge shift in terms of game toughness. Not to say that Russian players are any worse than other nationalities, but when such a large number of players are removed from the player pool at once it stands to reason that many recreational players who feed the poker economy will be seriously missed.