Russian Casinos

Searching for top online casinos in Russia? Check our expert shortlist of casino sites serving Russian players with straightforward deposits and withdrawals.

Russia is a country that boasts quite a few achievements in various fields, but when it comes to the gambling sector, there is still much work to be done before the country opens its doors to legal gambling activities. Even though gambling in brick-and-mortar gaming facilities has been legalized to a certain extent, those seeking the comfort of playing online will be very disappointed.

As of 2006, almost all forms of land-based and online gambling on the territory of the Russian Federation were officially banned by law. Several years later, new legislation was enforced that allowed land-based gambling only in five specific zones of the country. To be able to launch a gambling facility in any of the permitted territories, operators must obtain a license from the Ministry of Finance. These restrictions, however, have hardly prevented Russian players from placing wagers on the web since partaking in interactive gambling activities remains a popular pastime among many citizens despite the fact that the Russian government has blacklisted a large number of foreign gambling operators.

With no law permitting any form of online gaming in Russia, there is also no regulatory body to issue licenses and oversee this sector. That said, many Russians resort to offshore online casinos that operate either without a license or have little to no restrictions on players’ jurisdictions. If Russian players put some effort into it, they will certainly come across online casinos that are willing to accept registrations from this jurisdiction. If you are interested in the current legal landscape in regard to online gambling in the biggest country in the world and websites where you can still play while residing in Russia, we suggest you keep reading.

Russia’s Legal Stance on Gambling

During the Soviet regime, all forms of gambling in the country were prohibited by law. The first legal gambling establishment in Russia opened doors in 1989, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This led to gambling venues springing up like mushrooms throughout the country and by 1994, hundreds of land-based casinos were already in operation. One of the biggest issues, however, resulted from the fact that the majority of these establishments did not pay any taxes on their profits.

At the turn of the 21st century, gambling had become a major problem for the Russian government. In 2002, there were as many as 60,000 slot machines in operation in the Russian capital of Moscow alone, with licenses issued by the Federal Sports Agency (FSA). Meanwhile, the regional authorities no longer had a say in licensing and regulating gambling operations within the Russian provinces.

This caused a major backlash and as a result, all gambling establishments housing slot machines, card rooms, and tables with games of chance like craps and roulette were officially outlawed throughout the country with the exception of five “gambling” zones, i.e., provinces – Yantarnaya, Siberian Coin, Primorie, Azov-city, and Crimea. The latter was added as a gambling zone in 2019 but still has not launched any gambling facilities. All brick-and-mortar gambling establishments located outside the above-listed provinces were basically forced to close shop overnight when the ban came into effect in 2009. At the present moment, state lotteries are the only legal form of land-based gambling outside the five gambling zones.

Needless to say, this ban extended to interactive gambling as well, since the government decided to draw up a blacklist of unauthorized gaming operators. At the start of 2015, the authorities announced their plans to commence blocking the domains of the blacklisted gambling websites. Thus, access to all forms of interactive gambling, including virtual casino games, poker, and sports betting, was severely restricted. The blacklist consisted of both Russian and foreign online gambling providers. By the fall of the same year, the websites of some of the biggest gambling operators in the industry had already been blocked, including established names like Pinnacle, Ladbrokes, PokerStars, Betway, 888poker, partypoker, Full Tilt, William Hill, and Titan Poker.

While not all operators are blocked, this “censorship” by the Russian government makes it quite difficult for players from the country to access gambling websites and wager from the comfort of their homes. It would be fair to say the government does a pretty good job of filtering the websites that provide real-money gambling to Russian citizens. What is more, the blacklist is updated on a regular basis, with access to more and more gambling websites being restricted. It makes sense that the advertising and promotion of online gambling activities are also prohibited by law. Furthermore, Russia’s biggest search engine, Yandex, was asked by authorities to take down all site advertisements that openly promoted gambling-related activities over the internet.

There are no causes for concern for players, however, as there are no known cases of Russian citizens being prosecuted by law for engaging in illegal online gambling activities. The biggest problem players face is finding a way around the ISP blacklist and accessing the blocked websites. Some poker fans from the country have shared that it is possible for them to play their favorite game of skill for real money using the downloadable poker clients offered by popular platforms such as PokerStars.

Russian players who are caught in the act of violating the ban imposed by the government risk incurring a minor fine for participating in illegal gambling activities on the web. However, the risk of being fined for interactive gambling is indeed minuscule since the local authorities appear to have concentrated their efforts predominantly on blocking online gambling operators.

In addition, most players do not experience any issues when it comes to processing deposits or withdrawals to and from online gambling websites. However, there is no way of knowing how long this would last, considering the fact that the Russian government has so far demonstrated a grim determination to eradicate all forms of interactive gambling in the country.

That being said, there are still some online casinos that welcome Russian players as long as the latter manage to actually gain access to their websites. Such casino operators strive to accommodate their Russian customers and in many cases, it is possible to process one’s payments in the local currency, RUB.

Gambling Regulations in Russia

Since online casino gambling is practically prohibited in Russia, the state regulates only the land-based wagering activities on the territory of the four “gambling” zones, Azov-city, Siberian Coin, Primorie, and Yantarnaya. The Federal Executive Agency is the state institution responsible for overseeing the gambling operations within the four zones.

The land-based gambling operators are expected to meet certain criteria before they acquire a valid license. For instance, gambling establishments cannot be located within residential fund properties and the net assets of the companies should be no less than RUB600 million for casino and slot machine operators, and RUB100 million for totalizators and sportsbooks. The net assets of each applicant are calculated by the Ministry of Finance.

In addition, the land-based casino operators are expected to ensure the personal safety of their employees and customers. Another requirement is for the customer service areas in land-based establishments to feature a minimum of ten gambling tables. Slot machines, on the other hand, should have an average player return of at least 90%.

Gambling Taxation in Russia

In Russia, there are taxes imposed on players’ winnings, which is not the case in many countries throughout Europe. More importantly, all profits generated through gambling need to be declared as income by players. Failing to do so is treated as an attempt at tax evasion and, as such, will result in additional fines for the violators.

That being said, Russian players are required by law to pay a tax of 13% of their winnings. In some instances, this percentage is deducted from players’ winnings on the spot, i.e., when they cash out at the cashier of the land-based gambling venue where they accrued their winnings. In most cases, players are required to declare their winnings as income when filling in their income tax forms.

Also, if you are gambling at a Russian casino and are lucky enough to turn a profit, you should not forget to take your passport with you since players in Russia are expected to produce their passports in order to collect their winnings.

The operations of land-based gambling establishments are also subject to taxation, with the average tax per gaming table standing at RUB250,000. Brick-and-mortar casinos offering slots must comply with a tax of RUB15,000 per machine, while land-based betting shops are subject to taxes ranging between RUB10,000 and RUB14,000.

The Future of Online Gambling in Russia

As far as gambling is concerned, the situation in Russia is looking rather grim and, unfortunately, shows no sign of potentially improving in the future. At the beginning of 2017, it became clear that the Russian government was considering the introduction of a new piece of legislation similar to the UIGEA (the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act), which came into effect in the United States in 2006. In other words, the idea here is to prohibit Russian banking institutions and financial service providers from processing payments to and from unauthorized websites for interactive gambling. In addition, the Russian authorities appear to be rather consistent with their practice of blocking unauthorized foreign casinos as more and more names are added to the blacklist on a regular basis.

There is a silver lining, however. Some industry experts believe that the stricter measures Russia has taken against online gambling as of late can actually be interpreted as a sign the country is moving toward the establishment of a regulated gambling market. This assumption is not entirely unjustified, considering that in 2016 the government already issued its first online sports betting licenses to several domestic operators.