Russia intensifies fight against illegal operators

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the Federal Tax Service to place bets to identify illegal operators.

Russia.- It seems as Russia is not slowing down its fight against illegal gambling and continues its efforts to eradicate the problem. This time, President Vladimir Putin ordered the Federal Tax Service to place bets with bookmakers, casinos and betting shops to identify illegal operators.

Russia’s president believes that placing bets with those operators, as well as buying lottery tickets is a good strategy to identify illegal gambling and lotteries organisers. This is part of a bill signed into law by Putin this week that will come into force on Tuesday, August 6.

The strategy established by the government sets that three Federal Tax Service employees must make at least three bets. The employees can keep their wins, but it is expected that they will be paid into the strategy budget.

If the Federal Tax Service finds an illegal operator, it will first block the website and add them to a blacklist of illegal lotteries and operators. The list already features more than 40 offshore companies.

Gambling advertising is also prohibited in Russia, and the country has already set fines to websites that feature that kind of content. Back in May, the Moscow directorate of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) found Google guilty of advertising a gambling company in Google AdWords. The company faced a fine of €6.5k for allowing that kind of content.