Finance Minister Anton Siluanov raised the issue of legalizing online casinos in Russia, proposing the creation of a special operator to regulate this industry. According to the minister's plan, at least 30% of casino revenues should be transferred to the country's budget. If head of state Vladimir Putin approves this proposal, budget revenues could reach 100 billion rubles.
According to sources of Kommersant, Siluanov in a letter to Putin proposed considering the lifting of the ban on online casinos, subject to a number of conditions. These include the appointment of an online casino operator on the proposal of the government and the establishment of a betting acceptance scheme through the Unified Center for Recording Betting Transfer Payments, similar to bookmakers.
At the moment, online casinos are prohibited in Russia, and only bookmaker offices and totalizators can legally conduct gambling on the internet. The Ministry of Finance estimates the annual volume of this legal market at 1.7 trillion rubles, while the illegal segment amounts to more than 3 trillion rubles, with many active shadow online casinos.
Currently, it is legal to play in casinos only in specialized gambling zones: Krasnaya Polyana (Sochi), Yantarnaya (Kaliningrad Region), Primorye (Primorsky Krai), Sibirskaya Moneta (Altai Krai), and Zolotoy Bereg (Crimea).
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