Digest of gambling news December 3-9

Russian bookmakers managed to increase traffic by 6%, and the third stage of the football world championship turned out to be the weakest for betting companies in terms of the turnover of accepted bets. The Ministry of Finance again postponed work on the introduction of a system of self-restriction for bookmakers' clients, but, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, practically completed work on the development of a concept for placing casinos on cruise ships. How many millions of Russians are online casino players, why citizens are disappointed in gambling zones and how the Ministry of Internal Affairs is now tracking the owners of crypto wallets – read the Login Casino digest December 3-9.

Attendance to Russian bookmaker websites has increased more than 6%

An analysis of the traffic of Russian bookmakers showed that in November 2022, operators managed to increase traffic to 63.29 million, which is 6.36% more than in October of this year. In general, 10 out of 15 analyzed bookmakers can speak of an increase in traffic. The greatest increase is observed at the sites of BC Sportbet – by 422.3% and BC PARI – by 31.9%. At the same time, BetBoom – by 20.89% and BC Fonbet – by 8.3%. The top three most visited betting sites are Winline, Fonbet and Liga Stavok.

The introduction of the system of self-restriction of players in the Russian Federation is again postponed

The Ministry of Finance again wants to extend the time frame for the development of the relevant bill and has already sent a corresponding request to the government. The bill provides for the development and implementation of a mechanism for self-restriction of players of bookmakers and totalizators. It has been under development since 2018. In the latest public version, the Ministry of Finance proposed a rather lengthy process for considering a player's application, and also provided for the possibility of refusing a player to enter his name on the list of self-limited persons. New Deadline for Submitting the Bill to the Government of the Russian Federation – May 2023, and to the State Duma – September 2023.

The third round of the football world championship lost to the first and second in terms of the turnover of accepted bets

Alexey Babichev, PR director of PARI, spoke about this. Nevertheless, the bookmaker remains in the black, not least due to the large number of goalless draws with the participation of undisputed favorites. The most profitable for bookmakers in the third round were the matches of Tunisia and Denmark, the USA and England, Saudi Arabia and Argentina. At the same time, the most predictable games of England and Iran, as well as France and Denmark, Argentina and Mexico, became the most unprofitable. The largest earnings of the players were winnings in the amount of 2.39 million rubles and 2.24 million rubles. In the first case, the rate reached 1 million rubles, in the second – 0.5 million rubles.

Bookmaker's office «1xBet» changed the name of the legal entity

Previously, the legal entity of the bookmaker “1xBet” the company «Bookmaker Pub» acted. Based on the data in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the legal entity of the office changed its name and is now called “STAVKA RU”. The authorized capital of the company remained unchanged and amounts to 216.9 million rubles. The only founder of the legal entity of the bookmaker is the joint-stock company “Constructor” with an authorized capital of 10 thousand rubles and a location in the city of Saratov.

Sochi gambling zone – the best entertainment and tourism project

According to the Russian Traveler Awards 2022, the Sochi gambling zone won the corresponding special category and became the best tourist and entertainment project of the year. The award was established by Russian Traveler, which determines applicants and winners at the federal level by decision of official representatives of various regions. The readers of the magazine also take part in determining the winners by means of online voting.

The concept of placing a casino on cruise ships has been formed in Russia

The President instructed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to implement the initiative back in the spring of 2021. The implementation of the presidential order has already been extended three times due to disagreements between departments. Finally, the parties worked out a common position and presented a list of requirements for casinos and courts:

• Casinos can be placed on liners that sail under the flag of the Russian Federation;
• A casino can only be placed on ships built no earlier than 2021;
• the ship must allow the location of at least 300 people and provide for cabin accommodation for passengers;
• The ship's route must be strictly approved and include calls to foreign ports.

Only adult passengers will be able to visit the casino on ships and only during the ship's movement outside the territorial waters of Russia. Casino parking lots will not accept guests. At the same time, only legal entities – residents of the current gambling zone in Russia.

To implement the concept, it is necessary to make changes to the gambling legislation. The deadline for working out these changes – November 2023. Initially, it is planned to launch a pilot project that will operate for three years.

20 million Russians – online casino players

At the request of the federal media, ResearchView analyzed research data from the Russian casino market. As it turned out, every sixth adult is a potential client of gambling operators. 20 million citizens call themselves online casino players, and:

• 51% of them – people aged 25-44;
• 80% of – men;
• 40% of players devote up to three hours daily to an online casino;
• 89% play on mobile devices.

Portrait of the average – this is a working class person or a middle manager. Women bet more often, but the average check of bets for men – above.

Survey participants also claim that gambling zones have not lived up to their expectations. Dissatisfaction is caused by the lack of infrastructure, inaccessibility and a small number of guests.

In Russia, unscrupulous owners of crypto-wallets began to be tracked

Andrey Kurnosenko, head of the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, spoke about this. Through a special analytical system, law enforcement agencies receive information about financial risks for the economy from all over the country. Now, a module for tracking cryptocurrency transactions has been integrated into this system. According to Andrey Kurnosenko, the tool has already brought a positive result and helped to detect unscrupulous owners of crypto wallets.