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Russia’s Finance Ministry weighs casino legalisation as offshore CEB sits at 43.4%
A three-month legalisation rumours are spreading across Russia.
On 1 October, deputy finance minister Ivan Chebeskov spoke at the ERAI* forum “Gambling: deductions for sport”. He said the shadow online-casino sector is now comparable with the licensed bookmaker market. Players there have no protection, and the budget gets no tax and no sports deductions.
*ERAI (Russia’s Unified Regulator of Gambling) is a state public-law company. It supervises the licensed betting market and channels bookmaker deductions into sport.
The ministry, he said, must pick a path: keep the ban and chase sites and payments, or legalise on the bookmaker model. Licensed betting already sends about ₽100B (USD$1.2B) a year to the state.
On 2 October, Tennisi** chief Ruslan Suleymanov told the same forum that someone had whispered online casinos would be legalised in three months. Oleg Davydov, who runs the bookmakers’ first self-regulatory organisation, said he would not expect a decision by the end of 2026.
**Tennisi is a local Russian sportsbook.
Blask data puts Russia’s September Blask Index share at 46.8% offshore and 53.2% onshore. Onshore led that split through 2026.
Offshore casino brands already sit in the BAP ranking for September 2025–September 2026. 1win and Dragon Money take the two places under the market leader Fonbet.
Onshore and offshore demand in Russia are comparable in size. Although officials keep talking about legalising online casinos, industry figures do not expect a final decision by the end of 2026.