Genius Sports Shuts Down for Belarusian and Russian Businesses

Genius Sports has become the latest iGaming company to send an unequivocal message as to where it stands on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ complicity in the matter. As of Sunday, March 6, Genius Sports has suspended all of its commercial relationships in the two countries, citing the unprovoked attack on a democratic neighbor as the reason why.

Genius Sports Is Clear on Who Is at Fault

The sports betting and data company has said that its thoughts were with the Ukrainian people and the challenges that they face in what is close to two weeks of an all-out war on Ukraine, waged by its two neighbors and what now appears to be forces conscripted from the Chechen Republic and Syria.

Genius Sports said that it would not support the belligerent regimes and used the hashtag #standwithukraine to express solidarity with the attacked country. Genius Sports is not the only company that has sent a clear message to the world as to which party is guilty of the attack.

Suspending Belarusian and Russians commercial ties is indicative of Genius’ position on who the belligerent parties in the conflict are. Yet, the company is not the only high-profile industry entity to show empathy with the Ukrainian people. Previously, Clarion Gaming announced that it would temporarily suspend work with Russian and Belarusian companies, state entities, and individuals, citing the unprovoked aggression against Ukraine as the reason why.

Many other entities have acted similarly, withdrawing their business operations from both Russia and Belarus, or either country.

Parimatch and Bet365 were among the earliest ones to do so, and they were joined by other companies from across the Atlantic Ocean with FanDuel and DraftKings dropping all coverage of sports events coming from the two belligerent countries or involving representatives of said countries.

More Companies Drop Coverage of Belarusian and Russian Sports

The Colorado Division of Gaming issued an ordinance on Friday prohibiting coverage of Belarusian and Russian sports in the state and its licensed operators. Last week, Le Vegas Group said it would no longer offer sports betting events that feature Belarusian or Russian sports or athletes in a bid to avoid lending any legitimacy to those two countries and their athletes.

Other areas of the gambling experience have also been impacted. NagaCorp, owner of the NagaWorld Casino Resort in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, has said that it would discontinue work on the Vladivostok Casino project in Russia until such a time that the Ukrainian conflict has been resolved.

Ultimately, the gambling industry has sent a strict reprimand to Russian and Belarusian counterparts. While it may not be those businesses’ explicit fault that this is happening, the world has come together to condemn the illegitimate invasion of Ukraine, and businesses have readily followed suit.