The ongoing advancement of the Russian military to the territories of Ukraine has huge consequences on several industries including finance, security and humanitarian aid. One of the industries that are affected by this crisis in Europe is the lucrative market of online gambling industry.
One of the direct effects of the war is the major changes in some odds in sportsbooks because of the venue changes in some sports matches that have involvement with either Russia or Ukraine. There is also an ongoing boycott to Russia and Belarus from several organizations and companies.
To further explain about this, we listed down some of the recent updates in the gaming industry regarding the ongoing war.
Ukraine launched banking suspensions in response to Russian invasion
When Russia made an advance on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the central bank of the country announced that it would no longer accept payments from Russia and Belarus. All of the transactions will be halted as a response to the Russian invasion.
Additionally, banks also stopped any digital money transfers and e-wallet platforms like Venmo and Paypal suspended all the transactions from either party. The foreign exchange is also heavily affected and withdrawals are scarce, making the Ukrainians forced to consider using cryptocurrency platforms instead.
Worldwide boycotts against Russia
Many nations from Europe and the US condemned the ongoing Russian invasion which also caused many organizations to boycott Russia. Over a hundred companies and organizations have severed their ties with the Russian government and firms.
In the European Union, the member nations declared that they will block the assets of Vladimir Putin and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov. Other sanctions against Russia were posed from across industries such as finance, transport, energy, retail and health. The United Kingdom is also convincing other nations to remove Russia from the SWIFT system.
Online gaming companies expressed solidarity with Ukraine
As a response to the invasion, many renowned online gaming companies from all over the globe also showed their solidarity to Ukraine as the nation is under the severe crisis because of the Russian invasion.
Many iGaming firms, online gaming professionals, online casinos, developers, support networks, game studios all gathered their forces to support Ukraine. Some companies pledged to allocate funds to help the Ukrainian military, while some provided support to help civilians to leave the country safely.
Meanwhile, some firms went even further by severing their ties together with Russian suppliers and clients, to show their support for Ukraine.
Cryptocurrency aids Ukrainian forces
There is also an ongoing massive fundraising set by cryptocurrency companies to help the military of Ukraine. The wave of bitcoin transfers has been massive these past few days with over a half a million dollars has been allocated to a non-profit organization that has been helping the Ukrainian forces.
The utilization of the cryptocurrency system is fitting nowadays because the majority of banks in Ukraine have closed and a lot of money transfers were suspended following the crisis. The only solution that finance experts see is the use of cryptocurrencies because it is fast and it is decentralized.
However, the only downside to this is that cryptocurrency could also be used by Russia to disrupt the transactions because of the anonymity that is featured in the technology.
Final thoughts
The ongoing war has severely affected the economy of Ukraine and being a developing country, it needs support from the rest of the world. The solidarity to help Ukraine has gained a global spark to call for a mutual understanding to stop the war.
The effects of the crisis on the online gambling and ty le keo industry is also visible and undeniable and a quick response is needed to alleviate the situation.
