Russian lawmakers are set to hand regulators and law enforcement agencies new powers to fast-track blocking orders for illegal online casinos.
At a State Duma session this week, lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill that proposes shortening the time required to block gambling websites, the Russian media outlet URA News reported.
Online casino sites are illegal in Russia. However, the Ministry of Finance wants to instead reverse the ban and start taxing operators.
For the moment, government agencies continue their attempts to block illegal sites. But they have complained that red tape consistently frustrates their efforts to do so.
Current protocols require the Unified Gambling Regulator to file a notification to the Federal Tax Service. The tax body then performs a range of checks before agreeing to add the online casino’s details to a blacklist of banned websites.
The draft law proposes streamlining the process, reducing the time required for block order approvals from around 5 days to just 48 hours.
“We hope to finalize the draft law ahead of a second reading,” Sergei Altukhov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on Economic Policy, told Russia’s Parliamentary Gazette.
Russian Lawmakers: Time to Speed up Blocking Orders
“We are working with the Ministry of Finance and other agencies on this,” Altukhov said. “We are looking into more expeditious options to help block online casinos. As a rule, these websites currently belong to operators in countries that are unfriendly to Russia.”
Legal experts say the proposals are a good start, but need improvement.
“Given the current rate at which gambling websites are appearing, significantly reducing the time it takes to block them is essential,” the Russian lawyer Stalina Gurevich told URA News.
“However, I’m not sure this will significantly reduce the number of online casino visitors, especially among young people,” Gurevich said.
Younger Russians are very tech-savvy, the lawyer explained. Gurevich added, “They often know how to access blacklisted sites online. These proposals need to be improved.”
The ministry’s plan, meanwhile, faces staunch criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church, psychiatric experts, and opposition leaders.
