Russian online sports betting operator Fonbet has registered an online poker domain, offering hopes that Russia may finally lift its longstanding ban on the activity.

On Sunday, Russian sports betting affiliate Bookmaker-Ratings reported that Fonbet had registered two new domains – ruspoker.ru and fontoto.ru – in December. Neither domain appears to be active yet, and there’s good reason for that, at least, when it comes to the former domain.

Russia’s 19 online sports betting licensees are currently barred from offering any other form of online gambling – slots, casino table games and poker – under the gambling rules that Russian legislators approved in 2009. Those rules restricted offline casino gambling to several far-flung regional districts and limited online gambling to sports and race wagering only.

Russia’s few licensed casinos are allowed to offer live tournament poker at their venues. Several western operators – including GVC Holdings’ PartyPoker brand and The Stars Group’s flagship online poker brand PokerStars – have staged live poker events at Sochi casinos in the designated gaming zone of Krasnaya Polyana.