Tim Alper is a journalist who covers betting news and regulation for CasinoBeats. He joined the CasinoBeats team in May 2025. He reports on breaking news and developments in the world of betting, casinos, and...
Read Full BioRussian lawmakers are poised to green-light a “series” of bills that will restrict the way that casinos and bookmakers can advertise their services.
The Russian media outlet Post News reported that Andrey Khodykov, the Executive Director of Russia’s Center for Combating Gambling Addiction, said the proposals have won the approval of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy.
Khodykov said: “By raising attention to the need to create a national system to prevent and treat gambling addiction, we have gained the committee’s support.”
New Russian Casino, Bookmaker Ad Rules Coming
The official said that at least three bills were now in the pipeline. He said these would help combat the rise of illegal betting and gambling addiction.
One of these bills will toughen the penalties that courts can impose on individuals and companies that advertise casinos.
This bill has already been submitted to the State Duma, Khodykov added. It contains clauses aimed at punishing live streamers and content creators who use their pages to promote online gambling platforms.
Currently, numerous major channels on Russian social media and video-sharing platforms feature gambling-related ads and clickable links that direct viewers to betting platforms.
Khodykov said lawmakers are also considering a range of measures to prevent gambling addiction. However, he conceded that many of these are “currently under development.”
Self-Prohibition Drive
Another of the draft laws pertains to Russia’s new “self-prohibition” registry. This is a list of self-professed gambling addicts who want to preemptively bar themselves from placing bets.
Casinos and bookmakers must ensure that customers’ names do not appear on this list before allowing them to enter their premises or place online bets. Failure to comply will result in fines and suspension orders, lawmakers have previously warned.
Earlier this month, Khodykov noted that the Russian Ministry of Health is working on a comprehensive set of guidelines to help combat gambling addiction. He said that these should be ready by 2027, and explained that they will include guidelines for teachers working with elementary school children.
Sports Betting Booming
Earlier this month, the news website 78.ru reported that Khodykov also claimed that gambling revenues in Russia have “reached the 5 trillion ruble [$62 billion] mark due to the rise of the shadow gambling sector.”
Khodykov lamented: “Since gambling was legalized in Russia, we have lagged behind when it comes to addiction prevention and treatment. The legal gambling market is worth 3 trillion rubles [$37.2 billion]. But if you take into account the illegal market, that number rises to 5 trillion rubles.”
According to Khodykov, the explosive growth of the market owes much to the fact that Russia has relatively few resources to fight gambling addiction. Gambling, he said, was de facto legalized in Russia in the lead-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Khodykov explained that sports betting is now booming in Russia. He noted that bookmaker revenues have grown more than 12-fold over the past five years.
Earlier this month, a court in Siberia began the trial of a suspected illegal subterranean casino kingpin and 36 accomplices. Police say the kingpin operated gambling dens in basement units under convenience stores in the city of Krasnoyarsk.
