Russia okays new gambling law

Gaming operations in Russia will be regulated by new taxing law, exempting casinos from deducting fees.

Russia.- President Vladimir Putin has signed a new gambling law to amend the casino taxing law for this year’s operations. Under the new legislation, gaming operators will exempt from the “need to deduct taxes from their clients’ winnings,” as explained by authorities. The Parliament had passed the bill last month.

However, in November Putin also signed into law a couple of bills that regulate betting activities in the country. Whilst the first one focuses on increasing gambling tax rates, the second restricts the money transferred to illegal bookmakers. One of the bills increases tax rates all across the country from US$860 to US$4,300 for gaming tables, US$50 to US$260 for slot machines and a tax on online betting processing centre that goes from US$ 43,500 to US$ 52,000. Russia features two centres run by different bookmakers.

The latest regulation exempt casinos from collecting taxes from gambling wins over US$ 260 as gamblers themselves are supposed to do it. However, bookmakers and totes would not be benefited by the same law.

The Ministry of Finance’s website also revealed the guidelines for its budget and taxes for 2018-2020, which established that gaming taxes are expected to double starting January 1, 2018, with further increases until 2020.