There are no online casinos allowed in Russia. Gambling is allowed in the country only on the territory of special gambling zones. Bets on the Internet can be accepted by bookmakers, that is, those that are licensed in Russia. Neither these licensed bookmakers nor anyone else in Russia can offer online casino bets.
On December 29, 2006, Federal Law No. 244-FZ was adopted. There is article 5 and paragraphs 3 and 4 that answer the question of whether online casinos are allowed in Russia. Paragraph 3 clearly states that online gambling is not allowed.
While the fourth paragraph speaks of the possibility of doing gambling business only in the territory of special zones. This paragraph also excludes bookmakers and sweepstakes from those who fall under the ban. Therefore, you can see offices where sports betting is calmly accepted, and their sites are not blocked by Roskomnadzor.
It is due to this law that you will not find a single casino site registered in Russia. Perhaps even the owners of these operators are located in Russia, but the casinos themselves are registered in other countries.
The above law does not provide for a ban on playing in a casino. It says only about the ban on games. The ban on the game is not imposed by other documents. And although it is not directly stated anywhere in the legislation that citizens have the right to play in foreign online casinos, this is not officially prohibited. It follows that it is possible to play in an online casino in Russia and it will be absolutely legal.
The fact that an online casino cannot be registered in Russia does not prevent operators from registering in other jurisdictions and offering their services to Russians. Hence the eternal war of the RKN against all casinos that are at least somehow attractive to Russian players. This is expressed in blocking access to sites and casino mirrors.
Russia cannot impose fines or other penalties for organizing gambling, as these casinos are outside their jurisdiction. And casinos cannot cancel the blocking, but our ways to bypass it have long been.
The absence of a ban on the game is also evidenced by the attempts of politicians to promote laws that would allow players to be fined. But no one has yet approved such documents. Back in 2016, deputies tried to push through amendments to Law No. 244-FZ, where it would be noted that online gambling was prohibited.
Then it was assumed that the law would be in force from January 2017, while they wanted to set fines for violation at 10-20 thousand rubles. But, this did not happen, and the game still remains legal entertainment.
Now that would be a violation. According to the law, Russians are required to pay taxes on their winnings at a rate of 13%. The order of tax payment and punishment for tax evasion are also defined. Read the details in this article.
Probably few people pay taxes on gambling winnings. But in the summer of 2018, the tax authorities sent a document to the Ministry of Finance for consideration. They proposed to expand their powers in order to receive data from the bank about any citizen upon request. Thus, they wanted to identify illegal entrepreneurs. But in a similar way, you can also find income from the winnings of casino players.
Moreover, you will not be able to deduct your expenses on bets or deposits. Everything that will be withdrawn is regarded as winnings from the casino. Even if you withdraw the rest of your deposit. It does not matter.
So far, a law has just come into force that obliges banks and payment systems to block transfers to or from the account of casino sites. The law came into force on May 26, 2018, but back in mid-autumn there was information that only a few banks were following the instructions.
Moreover, the rest of the banks do not violate the law, continuing to transfer money to the casino. It's just that the Federal Tax Service at that time had not yet provided the required black list, according to which the blocking was to take place. Read more about this here.
These are, for the most part, licensed casinos in Curacao. This is not the best option, as the jurisdiction has a rather bad reputation. But there are plans for change soon. The government has promised to clean up the mess as Curaçao's online operators are receiving a lot of complaints.
