Slowly businesses have been suspending their services in Russia to show their support to Ukraine. Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonald’s, and now PokerStars.
On Tuesday 8th March, PokerStars sent out a Tweet making the announcement.
The Poker Community Responds
As expected, PokerStars’ announcement received mixed responses. Many players suggested that not all Russian players agree with what’s happening, and services should continue as normal.
One player Tweeted, “All Russian players are being punished, even though some of us are victims ourselves”. Another responded, “Regular people in Russia just want to live regular lives, this mass cancelation of all Russians is crazy.”
There were also masses of players who came to support PokerStars’ decision, which caused what we would call a minor online conflict between players.
It’s not just PokerStars, but other huge companies such as popular fast-food restaurant Mcdonald’s have also temporarily closed their services in Russia. Apple has stopped selling its products to Russia, General Motors are pausing all exports to Russia, and even Starbucks have temporarily closed their doors.
When Will Services Resume?
For the foreseeable future, PokerStars, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and other companies will not be resuming their services in Russia.
It seems whilst Russia and Ukraine have conflict, things won’t be returning to normality for Russian players just yet. However, we hope normality returns soon so all players can go back to enjoying playing online poker with no restrictions.
