The Future of Gambling Legalisation in Russia: Challenges and Implications

The average portrait of a Russian gambler — debtor, alimony payer, and incapacitated.

So, in the Russian Federation, they want to ban them from betting. Legal bookmakers were shocked by this and asked to postpone this cringe.

They say: we will lose 40% of the audience, and we also need to pay 150–200 million rubles annually for the monitoring system. Have some conscience. We have neither money nor capacity. And your weak database with debtors won't withstand such an influx of requests.

Now let's consider a scenario where the law is still adopted in the fall. Will the addicted stop playing? Or maybe they will look for offshore operators, which currently make up 50% of the market?

The second is obvious. In my humble opinion, it was precisely the thoughts of legalizing the gambling sector that triggered the lively hunt for illegal business. Or, at least, it's not the least reason.

What we have in the near future: clearing all the shadow in the name of further legalization ➡️ pressure on addicted players and lack of alternatives ➡️ reduction in the turnover of legal bookmakers and, consequently, target deductions and taxes.

But the trouble is that no initiative will make a gambler stop playing. Just as any addict will find money for a dose, so will a player find something to bet on.

Demand creates supply. Therefore, no matter how much you suppress the shadow sector, it will still emerge. The more «oppressed» gamblers there are, the more tempting alternatives will appear.

Now we are witnessing a kind of race, who is smarter and faster:
— law enforcement with raids on offices
— casinos and bookmakers that need the market no matter what

One thing is clear for now. Soon the legal business will learn a little more about poverty. For everything that is done leads to a worse outcome for them.