Russia: sports betting registration changes, delayed

Despite trying to approve a simplified sports betting customer registration process before the World Cup, the bill won’t make it in time.

Russia.- The FIFA World Cup will begin next June and the sports betting market is set to take advantage of the massive event. Russia will host the tournament and was trying to approve a simplified customer registration process before it began. However, it appears it will only be ready after the event is over.

Bill No. 423799-7 was introduced in March and was aimed to make it easier to register to bet on sports. Currently, there’s a two-stage online account registration process, which discourages gamblers and leaves local punters at a disadvantage with international operators.

This process forces Russian punters to register online with both a licensed bookmaker and centralised payment hubs (TSUPIS), and then certify physically with documentation proving their identity. However, the proposed process would give TSUPIS the authority to certify punters’ identities by themselves, making the process completely online.

The Committee for Economic Policy, Industry, Innovation Development and Entrepreneurship announced that it expected to have the bill to present to the State Duma for consideration by June. However, that would mean that the regulation change wouldn’t be ready before kick-off on June 14th.