Umar Kremlev supported the legalization of online casinos
President of the International Boxing Association (IBA) Umar Kremlev has backed the Ministry of Finance's proposal to legalize online casinos in Russia. He made the statement during the "Gambling" forum in Moscow.
In that case, bets will be accepted through the Unified Betting Transfer Accounting Center (Unified TSUPIS), similar to how bookmakers operate. In addition, it is proposed that only users aged 21 and over be allowed to play at online casinos.
Legalizing online casinos is expected to bring the country's budget around 100 billion rubles annually. The turnover of the illegal segment, meanwhile, is estimated at more than 3 trillion rubles per year.
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"What's the point of fighting it? Online casinos need to be regulated so that the state benefits from it. The illegal market will die on its own if the regulator takes it on. Then we'll get twice as much in contributions.In January 2026, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov proposed to Vladimir Putin that online casinos be legalized in Russia. To do this, the ministry plans to create a special operator that will pay a monthly tax of no less than 30% of revenue minus the winnings paid out.
Time goes by, and the country is only getting worse off, because the money is being taken out. It's like fighting windmills. We need to give people a more convenient option," — Kremlev said.
In that case, bets will be accepted through the Unified Betting Transfer Accounting Center (Unified TSUPIS), similar to how bookmakers operate. In addition, it is proposed that only users aged 21 and over be allowed to play at online casinos.
Legalizing online casinos is expected to bring the country's budget around 100 billion rubles annually. The turnover of the illegal segment, meanwhile, is estimated at more than 3 trillion rubles per year.
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