Russia’s legal gambling sector has firmly rejected a proposal to penalise residents who use unlicensed online casinos. The push-back is clear: such measures would be counterproductive and set a potentially dangerous precedent.

The Proposal

Ivan Kurbakov, a lawyer and chairman of the conservative lobbying group Otsy Ryadom, has called on Russian lawmakers to introduce administrative fines for citizens caught using online casinos. His suggestion would empower courts to issue warnings or financial penalties to end-users rather than focusing enforcement efforts on operators.

Kurbakov frames it as a demand reduction strategy. Penalising players, he believes, would discourage them from patronising illegal platforms and ultimately cut into criminal profits. He’s also advocated pairing such measures with improved financial transaction tracking and enhanced addiction support programmes.

Industry Pushback

Ruslan Suleimanov, head of Tennisi, a licensed Russian bookmaker, doesn’t buy it. Speaking to industry publication Bet On Mobile, Suleimanov argued that targeting users rather than organisers represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.

“We need to tackle the cause, not the effect,” he said. “Organizers of illegal gambling activities must be prosecuted.”

But there’s another concern. Suleimanov warned that such legislation could set a troubling precedent. User penalties for online casinos, he suggested, could logically extend to other activities, creating a slope where citizens face fines for watching certain video content or accessing restricted social media platforms. Once you start fining people for using things, where does it stop?

Political Divisions

Russia’s approach to online gambling remains fractured across government. The Ministry of Finance has publicly advocated legalising and taxing operators, seeing obvious revenue potential. Meanwhile, lawmakers have introduced new legislation enabling internet regulators to expedite blocking orders against casino websites.

Some lawmakers take a harder line. Federation Council Senator Airat Gibatdinov, for instance, supports targeting operators more aggressively. He’s proposed raising maximum fines for casino organisers to 3 million rubles, roughly $40,000, citing concerns about minors being targeted by platforms.

The political tension reflects deeper disagreements about whether Russia’s online gambling problem is best solved through regulation, prohibition, or enforcement focused on criminal operators rather than end-users. Everyone’s got a different answer.