Online Casinos in Russia

Online Casino Play Is Prohibited

Gambling in Russia is governed by Federal Law No. 244-FZ of 29 December 2006, on state regulation of activity in organising and conducting gambling and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation. Article 1 states that the law sets the legal basis of that state regulation and establishes restrictions on the activity in order to protect morality and the rights and lawful interests of citizens.

Article 5(3) prohibits activity in organising and conducting gambling on the territory of the Russian Federation using information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, and means of communication, with one exception: the acceptance of interactive bets and the payment of winnings on them by organisers of gambling in bookmakers' offices or totalisators under article 14.2 of the law. Casino play online falls outside that exception and is prohibited.

Article 5(10), added by Federal Law No. 303-FZ of 10 July 2023, puts the point in its own terms: organising and conducting gambling for a material prize determined at random using computer programs or mechanical, electrical, electronic or other technical equipment accessed through information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, and means of communication including mobile communications, is not permitted.

Article 5(3) also sets out when such activity counts as taking place on Russian territory. It is enough that any one of four conditions is met: the participant's place of residence is in the Russian Federation; the bank holding the account the participant uses to pay stakes, or the electronic money operator through which the participant pays, is located in the Russian Federation; the participant's network address used to pay stakes is registered in the Russian Federation; or the international country code of the telephone number the participant uses to pay stakes is assigned to the Russian Federation.

Land-Based Gambling and the Gambling Zones

Under article 5(4), gambling establishments other than bookmakers' offices, totalisators and their betting points may be opened only in gambling zones. A gambling zone is defined in article 4(7) as a part of the territory of the Russian Federation designated for gambling activity with boundaries set under the law, and a permission under article 4(8) entitles its holder to operate in one gambling zone without limit on the number or type of gambling establishments. A casino, under article 4(12), is a gambling establishment where gambling is conducted using gaming tables, or gaming tables together with other gaming equipment provided for by the law.

Article 9(1) provides that six gambling zones are created on the territory of the Russian Federation, and that no more than one may be created in the territory of any one constituent entity. Article 9(2) lists them as the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Crimea, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Primorsky Krai and Kaliningrad Oblast. The Republic of Altai was added by Federal Law No. 124-FZ of 2 May 2026, and the count in article 9(1) was raised to six by the same law; earlier accounts of five zones no longer describe the current text.

Betting Is a Separate Regime

Casino play and betting are not the same thing in Russian law. A licence under article 4(9) to organise gambling in bookmakers' offices or totalisators is a separate special permission, confirmed by an entry in the register of licences, and it entitles its holder to operate outside the gambling zones. Interactive bets are routed through the single centre for accounting for transfers of bets of bookmakers' offices and totalisators, whose activity is governed by article 14.2 and carried on by a credit organisation appointed by the President of the Russian Federation on the proposal of the Government. Article 5(6) prohibits a bookmaker or totalisator from accepting bets over those networks other than through that route. None of this extends to casino games.

Payment Restrictions

Article 5.1 restricts money transfers and the acceptance of payments from individuals where gambling activity is carried on in breach of Russian law. A credit organisation serving the payer must refuse to carry out a transfer on an individual's instruction in favour of a person on the list of persons in whose favour money transfers are prohibited. A card-issuing credit organisation must refuse a cross-border card transfer to a recipient outside Russia where the payment-system code or identifier shows that the recipient is carrying on gambling activity, or where the recipient is on that list. Payment agents, communications operators and postal operators may not accept payments from individuals in favour of those persons, and may not enter into contracts with them. The Government sets the procedure for keeping the list.

Who Supervises

Article 15.1 provides for state control over the organisation and conduct of gambling at two levels: federal control by the federal executive body authorised by the Government of the Russian Federation, under a regulation the Government approves, and regional control by the executive bodies of the constituent entities in whose territory gambling zones are created. The law describes the federal body by its function rather than by name, and it is not named here, because no official Russian page naming it could be read. No body licenses online casino play in Russia, so none is recorded as the casino regulator and no operator is listed for this market.

The minimum age is 18: article 4(10) defines a participant in gambling as a natural person who has reached the age of eighteen, and article 7(2) provides that persons who have not reached the age of eighteen may not be visitors to a gambling establishment.