Russia flirts with online gaming

If Russia legalises online poker, as it seems according to some announcements made this week, the billions of dollars in taxes may benefit the country’s economy immensely.

Russia.- This week, the domestic betting firm Liga Stavok announced that the company had been granted the first official betting license in Russia. To add fuel to the fire, the launching of TSUPIS, a new central payment processing system intended to record all payments made into registered gaming sites making possible to tax them, will take place in the next few weeks.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov, ordered the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Justice 18 months ago, to collaborate on a report on the legalisation, regulation and taxation of online poker.

Furthermore, millionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the head of the World Chess Federation and close to the Kremling,openly supports the initiative. “Concerning online poker and its legalisation in Russia, it should be legalised; too many people are involved and are playing online,” he said. “There are no reasons that it should be hidden and illegal. I’ve prepared my proposals concerning legalisation of online poker in Russia and have presented them to the Russian government. And I am working together with the government in order to allow online poker to become an intellectual sport in Russia.”

Taxes will play a significant role in the fate of this initiative. Senator Tyson Larson, a sponsor of online gambling legalisation expressed: “We hear a lot about property tax relief, limited government and the state not getting involved. If we care about those issues, here’s an outside-the-box opportunity to show that we take these things seriously. We can help our local communities and their fundraising efforts.”