Russian tech company releases poker app
New Poker Arena App from Russian tech firm
Russia’s version of Yahoo, mail.ru has released two mobile apps for global use which allows customers to play poker, called Poker Arena along with another game call Jungle Heat, available in the App store for Apple and on Android.
The interesting fact is that specifically the Poker Arena game allows players to purchase chips for cash to play on the tables, which is a direct violation of gambling laws in Russia that were introduced in 2009 when all gambling in the country was outlawed and placed in 4 outlying regions of the country.
The far flung territories that are allowed gambling are – “Azov City” in Krasnodar region, “Amber” in the Kaliningrad region, “Siberian Coin” in Altay region and Primorye in the Maritime Territory. However many of these locations are still to offer casinos etc and the others have little to offer currently because of their geographical locations.
With the release of the Poker Arena app by mail.ru it currently violates Russian gambling law unless the company changes its functions. When asked by local reporters why the company had taken such a step, no comment was offered, sparking speculation that possibly online gambling laws could be changing soon.
Mail.ru is a leading email provider and news platform and observers feel that the company would not have risked the ire of the government were they not sure they could do so. Whether the company believes that offering the app outside of Russia allows them legally to proceed will be seen by other technology companies as a green light for their own offerings.
According to Leonid Delitsyn, an analyst at Finam – one of Russia’s largest investment firms, developing games and applications for mobile devices may be a promising avenue for Mail.ru Group to explore in terms of international expansion.
“We’ve entered the smartphone era. There’s a whole new audience that is not tied to any service in particular to be tapped,” Delitsyn explains. It’s difficult to become a global leader in mail or social networking services these days.
