Russia Systematically Shutting Down Online Gambling

December 17, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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For quite some time now, Russia has been trying to shut down not only some land based gambling sites, but also online gambling.

Except for a few land based casinos that are located in far out, remote, areas of Russia, the Russian government has banned all the land based casinos that they could find. There are those who live in the city, and find it inconvenient to get to any of the land based casinos, so they looked for another option.

The other option that opened up for these casino players are a form of computer clubs at which online casinos can be accessed. These computer clubs fulfilled the players' needs, by giving access to a number of online gambling sites.

After the first time that the Russian government created a gambling ban, these computer clubs, which offered online gambling, began to spring up in a large number of locations. Not only did they spring up so quickly, but they were extremely popular with online casino players. These clubs gained popularity quickly, and there were almost 100 of them that were operating in Moscow alone, until the Russian government decided to try and shut down all these computer clubs, which offered online gambling.

A member of the United Russia Party, Ivan Sawidi, was particularly unhappy about these online casino gambling clubs, and he has asked that a new bill be created that would fine any people who are placing wagers at online casinos. This is a somewhat unusual move in a country that is trying to eradicate online gambling. Usually, if anyone at all will be fined, it is the online casino operators, and not the individual players, who are fined.

Ivan Sawidi explained how he came to this idea, saying: "Before, the law concentrated on suppliers of gambling, and now the gamblers themselves are responsible."

The fine for players who are caught placing wagers online, could be as much as 2,000 rubles. Even though players could end up paying a fine, the Russian government has not stopped trying other ways to stop players wagering online.

A number of the venues that have been offering online gambling have been continuing to run their operations as elite lottery clubs. The Russian authorities have already shut down 78 such clubs, and the authorities have no plans to stop until they feel they have found every online gambling establishment.

The authorities have also seized about 3,000 pieces of equipment that are considered to have been gambling related equipment.

Since the government feels that there are those who have found some loopholes in the current law, it is possible that a new law will be passed that will clearly include slot machines in the ban.

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