Swedish poker giant OnGame expanded it's operations into Russia and Poland this week with the launch of a real money pokerroom in the Russian language, and plans for a Polish language site well on their way. OnGame is the first big poker network to target Poland and Russia poker players in their own language.
Europoker.com's Russian language site will be promoted vigorously
in a multi-million dollar marketing campaign centered on Moscow, which
will include TV and radio advertising and is scheduled to run until
the end of this year.
Continuing after that could be problematical in view of new constraints
on the advertising of i-gaming which are about to be introduced by the
government.
Russian gambling is a booming market with considerable potential according
to OnGame, which says that the number of land casinos in the country
has grown from 30 to 58 in the past three years.
OnGame's VP new markets, Jakob Soderbaum says: “Online gambling
in Russia is still very much in its infancy, but with internet penetration
growing and interest in gambling on the increase, the signs are that
Russia will become an important market for the industry. As there is
no market leader and only a short period before advertising restrictions
take effect, the next six weeks will prove critical to the long-term
look of the Russian market.”
Plans for a Polish language site are also well advanced.