iPoker Network leaves Ukraine

iPoker Network has announced that it will no longer serve Ukrainian players.

Ukraine.- iPoker Network has announced that it will no longer provide services to Ukrainian players, and several skins have also joined the exodus from Russia. The lack of a coherent regulation seems to be the problem.

In 2009, Ukraine passed a law prohibiting any form of live or online gambling that was not state-sanctioned. Back then, the official government line was that poker is a sport, so it was not covered by the new law. However, a change of opinion in 2010 forced online gambling companies to move their servers outside the country in order to continue providing a service to Ukrainian players.

Live poker clubs contested the reclassification of poker as gambling, taking the matter to the courts. In 2013, the Ukrainian Supreme Administrative Court upheld the poker club´s case, but only for tournament poker. Cash games remain illegal although no individual or online gambling provider has been prosecuted for breaking the law.

Now iPoker Network has taken the unexpected decision to add Ukraine to its list of restricted territories. The iPoker Network officially stopped providing a service on August 15th and has emailed all affected players telling them they should withdraw their funds by the end of the month.

So far, no official reason has been given for the withdrawal from the Ukrainian market, although proposals to regulate online gambling in Ukraine were submitted to the Ministry of Finance last December.

In the meantime, three other iPoker Network skins have joined the exodus in Russia: Gala Casino Poker, Coral Poker and Mansion Poker. This last withdrawal follows the iPoker Network´s blanket withdrawal from Ukraine in addition to PokerStars recent withdrawal from Slovenia.