Police in Siberia Shut Down 34 Illegal Casinos Last Year

Russian police and public prosecutors in Siberia say their crackdown on illegal casinos is yielding results, with officers closing 34 illicit betting dens last year.

The casinos were all closed down in Novosibirsk and the surrounding region in 2025, senior prosecutor Alexander Buchman said, per the Russian media outlet BFM’s Novosibirsk branch.

Buchman said law enforcement agencies had stepped up their supervision of the sector, and praised his team’s “effective work” in achieving “significant results.”

“Over the past two years, we have taken drastic measures to intensify our crackdown, which is now proving fruitful,” he said.

Siberian Police Target Illegal Casino Shutdown

The prosecution official said the Investigative Department of the Russian Investigative Committee’s Novosibirsk branch launched 29 criminal cases related to the organization of illegal gambling last year.

He said 22 of these cases had already been sent to court. Buchman added that officers had seized more than 550 “gaming equipment items.”

In 2024, when Siberian authorities first launched their crackdown, prosecution officials shut down 28 illegal casinos.

Earlier this month, a court in Novosibirsk ordered federal bailiffs to hand over 20 slot machines confiscated from an illegal casino to the state.

The prosecutor’s office says it has developed new tools to detect, monitor, and shut down illegal gambling establishments.

“Our success is the result of the joint efforts of the prosecutor’s office and the investigative agencies,” Buchman said. “We aim to ensure law and order prevails in the Novosibirsk region.”

Nationwide Casino Crackdown

Police and prosecutors in other parts of the country also say their own crackdowns on illegal betting rings are proving successful.

Officers in the Republic of Bashkortostan, a territory between the River Volga and the Ural Mountains, say they have launched a criminal case against a 40-year-old resident accused of illegally organizing and conducting gambling in a rented space.

Investigators say they discovered the suspect organizing poker games in the village of Iglino.

During a police raid, detectives said they seized cash, mobile phones, playing cards, casino chips, and sets of dice, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

And in Ryazan, the Russian media outlet 7 Info reported that police have wrapped up an investigation into an illegal casino.

The city is located on the River Oka, some 200km southeast of Moscow.

Prosecutors have indicted two men and three women on charges of “organizing and conducting gambling outside a gambling zone using gaming equipment.”

If found guilty, the suspects face a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Officers say that one of the group members opened an illegal casino in a non-residential building owned by his relative in 2020. He allegedly filled the building with gambling equipment and computers, hiring four people to work as administrators.

The casino continued to operate until December 2024, the prosecution officials said. In total, the casino produced profits of more than 18 million rubles (over $240,000), detectives estimate. Police say they seized several pieces of gambling equipment from the site, as well as cash and betting chips.