Online Casino Russia
Russia is currently in the process of legalizing and licensing online sports betting, but online casino games and poker remain outlawed due to ongoing prohibitory measures first instituted in 2006. Nonetheless, online gambling sites headquartered in other countries insist on accepting wagers from players located in Russia.
Strict gaming laws have prevented the rise of a domestic gambling industry, so that leaves us with our current situation: the best Russian casino sites are not Russian at all. They do offer Russian-language websites and accept ruble deposits, but they are all hosted overseas in jurisdictions that do allow online gambling.
The online casino has a range of banking mechanisms for players to choose from, including credit and debit cards, as well as prepaid solutions and web wallets. Players simply need to log into their JackpotCity casino account online, Russia Casino Vladivostok click on the Banking tab, and complete the details to make either a deposit or a. Therefore online casino players from Russia can still benefit from all the things international online casinos can offer, and even more. There’s a reason why developers create Russian-based games and operators still accept and accommodate Russian players, and that’s players’ interest in joining online casinos and playing the games offered.
The good news is that these sites are all perfectly safe even though they are located in other countries. All the top-rated Russian gambling sites are tightly regulated by their host nations and subject to regular audits to ensure fair, truly random games.
The bad news is that Russia’s crackdown on online gambling continues to this day. The government has instituted a number of measures that make it increasingly difficult for players to even access gambling websites and make real money deposits. Even worse, some lawmakers have called for instituting criminal penalties on players who access unauthorized gambling sites.
However, there are some glimmers of hope. In recent years, the government has softened its stance regarding online sports betting. Several local bookmakers have received licenses to offer real money sports bets over the internet and are already taking bets today. If the Russian effort to legalize and regulate sports betting is successful, perhaps it will eventually lead to a more accepting attitude towards online casino games and poker.
Online bookmakers that have been authorized to date:
- 888.ru (no relation to 888Sport.com)
Russian Gambling Laws
Gambling of all types was outlawed for the majority of the Soviet era in Russia with a general prohibition extending from 1928 to 1988. Gambling was reinstated in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union began to dissolve. Brick-and-mortar casinos quickly proliferated across Russia through the 1990s and early 2000s.
A 2005 report in the Washington Post noted 58 casinos, 2,000 gaming machines and 70,000 slot machines active in Moscow alone that year. The rapid growth and proliferation of gambling prompted Vladimir Putin in 2006 to introduce a complete ban on both real-world and online casinos in Russia.
The ban went into effect three years later (2009) and nearly every casino in Russia was shut down. The only exceptions to the new prohibitions were certain casinos located in exempted zones located far away from populated areas. The prohibition law originally stipulated there being four gambling zones in Russia, but ambiguity in the law has resulted in six zones that are either already in operation or under consideration:
- Azov-City
- Sochi
- Yantarnaya
- Primorye
- Siberian Coin
- Crimea
In more recent years, online casinos have come under increased scrutiny from Russian officials intent on stamping out all internet gambling other than that which takes place at licensed sports betting sites. The Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor began a censorship campaign in 2015 designed to block access to overseas gambling websites. The agency has ordered local internet service providers to block thousands of websites since then.
There are also laws in effect that could put individual gamblers at risk of fines if caught placing wagers at unlicensed online casinos in Russia. However, it seems that this particular law is rarely, if ever, enforced. The risk is there, but we believe the risk is minimal. As is the case in most anti-gambling nations, Russian authorities typically set their sights on those who organize online gambling rather than those who merely participate.
Depositing to and Withdrawing from Russian Casino Sites
The effort to eliminate Russian casino sites has also extended to the financial side of things. Payment processors located in Russia have been ordered to block all payments to/from offshore gambling sites.
Major payment processors Qiwi and Skrill were recently ordered to stop doing business with online casinos that continue to accept Russian players. These two services were among the most popular deposit methods for Russian players at one point and their loss has been a major blow to both casino sites and players in Russia.
On this backdrop of difficulty, Russians are increasingly turning to Bitcoin to fund their online casino accounts. Although there is a bit of a learning curve at the outset, Bitcoin is an extremely effective deposit method in which transactions are semi-anonymous and processed nearly in real time.
The government has taken note of the rise of Bitcoin and is currently mulling over what to do about the digital currency. At one point, certain Russian officials sought to enact severe penalties for anyone using Bitcoin in Russia. The Ministry of Finance even went so far as to recommend jail sentences of up to four years and financial penalties of up to 4,000 rubles for anyone using digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
Thankfully, that decree has not yet been passed and there are indications that the government may be softening its stance on digital currencies. A more recent report has indicated the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are rethinking how they should handle Bitcoin. Rather than outlaw Bitcoin, the government may instead attempt to legalize and regulate the currency.
As you are probably aware, Russia does not take too kindly to its players gambling online. This doesn’t mean to say that it is not possible to do so, though. While there are no legal internet casinos in Russia, there are many hundreds of offshore casinos which accept players from across the Russian Federation. With that in mind, it is well worth visiting the Russian gambling laws to see what you can and cannot do. Moreover, it is worth examining what these international casinos can offer players based in the Russian Federation. This is precisely what we will do in this article.
An Overview of Gambling in Russia
Russia
Officially, gambling is only legal if you live in Altai, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar and Primorsky. These regions allow land-based casino gambling. However, if you wish to bet on casino games online, you are out of luck no matter where in Russia you happen to love. You are entitled to place bets on sports and wager on lottery games, but that is as far as the law allows.
The current Russian gambling laws date back to 2006. The regulations came in after a surge in online gambling activity, predominantly at offshore casinos. In 2012, Russian amended its gambling laws to ensure that offshore betting sites could be blocked by Russian internet service providers (ISPs). This is pretty much the situation we find ourselves in today. However, Russians might think that sports betting and lottery games are their only way to bet online, though, but this is not technically true. For those who are prepared to take risks, other options are available.
By using a VPN (virtual private network), it is possible to get around the Supreme Court of Russia’s blocks, and access offshore and foreign sites, many of which accept players who reside in the Russian Federation. Now it is essential that players understand that Russia has put punishments in place for players who break the law. However, millions of Russians regularly bet online, and no reported punishments have ever been handed out. Because of this, you are relatively safe if you wish to gamble online at international casino sites.
Casino Slot List
Russia’s Most Played Casino Games
Before we look at some of the features of the best Russian online casinos, we need to look at the legality of various casino games and other forms of gambling games in Russia. Yes, most of them are outlawed from the start, but we should take a look at them nonetheless.
Online Casino Games: Online casino games are not permitted in Russia, irrespective of where you live. There are no legalised online casinos in Russia, and before you think of popping over to poker rooms, there are none of those, either. All casino games (including slots) whether games of skill or chance are banned in the Russian Federation.
Lottery Games: It is possible to wager online if you want to play lottery games. However, these are only possible if we are talking about Russian lotteries. You are not, for instance, allowed to wager on international lotteries via lottery betting sites in Russia. Naturally, this limits the available selection of lottery games that you can choose to play. As a result, many Russians do sign up to offshore betting sites to play major lotto games as well as casino games.
Live Dealer Casino Games: Again, these are outlawed, just like RNG (random number generator) based casino games. However, some live dealer games can be played in Russian, especially baccarat, blackjack and roulette. In most cases, these will be streamed out of neighbouring Estonia or Latvia.
Bingo Games: Bingo is popular in Russia. As there are no specific laws prohibiting bingo in Russia, it is not clear whether playing the game is legal or not. However, some Russian lotteries do permit bingo games. Consider bingo a grey zone, but one which leans more towards bingo being legal, than outlawed.
Sports Betting: Sports betting is legal in Russia. Betting on football and other sports is hugely popular in Russia. There are specific Russian gambling laws which relate to sports betting, and licenses are handed out to operators. Access to foreign sportsbooks is prohibited, though, so you can only legally use Russian websites.
Taxes on Big Wins at Russian Casinos
Taxes
When you decide to bet at Russian casinos, you will face a tax. Officially, there is no tax on gambling activities per se. However, whatever you win will be subject to a 13% income tax. This is true of all forms of gambling (land-based or online), excluding lottery wins. This might sound harsh, but oddly enough, the Russian tax rate on a player’s winnings is markedly less than in many other countries.
Of course, things are considerably worse for operators. Russian sportsbook and lottery operators are hit with heavy taxes, and that deters too many of them from springing up. Russian cannot tax offshore betting sites and does not run any online casinos, so there is no casino tax for operators to pay. A rise in the tax rate in 2018 means that even if Russia decided to legalise online casino gaming (which it won’t), few operators could afford the taxes associated with running a casino site.
The Best Russian Online Casinos to Join Today
As mentioned, you have got no chance of being able to play at a Russian online casino. Instead, you are going to have to make do with playing at an offshore one. There are many international casinos which accept players in Russia. Wherever you decide to play, you should try and ensure that your chosen casino site fulfils as many of the following requirements as possible. This way, you can rest assured that you are playing at the best Russian online casinos today.
Russian Players are Accepted: There is no point in signing up at an offshore casino and taking the risks associated with it unless that casino is prepared to accept players from Russia. Always check this before signing up and attempting to play.
List Of Casinos In Europe
VPN Permitted: Russia puts some pretty effective blocks on offshore casinos. Because of this, you are going to need a VPN to get around them. Not all foreign casinos accept players who use VPNs. With that in mind, you are going to want to make sure that your chosen casino accepts this.
Licensed and Secure: Even though an online casino cannot obtain a Russian license, this does not mean that you should play at unlicensed casinos. Instead, we recommend that you choose to play at a site which holds a valid gambling license. Ideally, these will be licensed out of a reputable jurisdiction, such as Curacao or somewhere else in Europe.
Online Casino Russian
Russian Options: Not all Russians can speak English, although we will assume since you are reading this article that you can. There are many top international casinos out there, and they all offer gameplay in English. However, some also go the extra mile and provide casino action in Russian, too. Many foreign casinos accept Russian cards and other payment methods, and the Russian rouble is commonly accepted at offshore casino domains. With so many sites providing these options, you shouldn’t really need to play anywhere which doesn’t offer them.
Online Casino Games Russian
Provided that they have a good VPN to get around Russian blocks on foreign casino sites, Russians will find an ample supply of top international casinos to play at. The risks associated with betting online at foreign domains are minimal for Russian players. You can find many top offshore casinos to play which accept Russian players right here on this page. We would recommend playing at these Russian casinos, as they have all been checked and verified to ensure that they offer safe, secure and reliable online casino options to players based in Russia. In short, they are the best online casinos open to Russian players.