What will the foreign gambling business do?
Foreign bookmakers and lotteries, who are interested in the Russian market, will look for an opportunity to access it legally or build a chain of intermediaries between themselves and the player to make payments, not to be blacklisted.
Other representatives of the gambling business, whose activities are prohibited by Russian law, will also try to customize the process of making payments through intermediaries. But there is no guarantee at all, that intermediaries will not be included in the list of "prohibited recipients of money transfers".
Another way to bypass the blocking of transfers from the Russian Federation is to use cryptocurrencies. That is, the entry into force of this law may lead to an increase in the share of payments in cryptocurrencies and cause an increase in their integration as a means of payment.
Description of the federal law 244
The law on gambling was adopted by members of the State Duma 20 December 2006 of the year, was approved a week later by the Federation Council. The document entered into force 29 December 2006. Since the law was passed, it has undergone many changes.. The latest revision of the gambling legislation falls on 28 Martha 2017 of the year.
This law regulates the legal basis of state control over the activities of institutions, who organize gambling. The law establishes restrictions on the conduct of this activity in order to protect the morality of citizens and the legitimate interests of the population.
ФЗ № 244 does not regulate the activities of organizations, holding lottery draws.
The bill consists of 3 head and 20 articles. The main provisions of this bill:
- General Provisions. They include the subject of regulation, procedure for exercising state control, basic concepts, used in law, gambling business requirements, room requirements, where the gambling business is located;
- Gambling zones. This chapter implies the conditions for the creation and liquidation of gambling zones;
- The third chapter describes the rules for organizing and conducting risky entertainment in bookmakers outside gambling zones.. The opening procedure is indicated, demands, applicable to bookmakers and final provisions of this law.
An important component of the Federal Law "On state regulation of activities for the organization and conduct of gambling and on amendments to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation" is 5 article. This article describes the restrictions for the implementation of gambling:
- organization and conduct of gambling is possible only with strict observance of the norms of this law;
- gambling is allowed in special rooms, corresponding to the legislative norms of the law in question and other normative acts;
- when conducting risky games, it is prohibited to use information and telecommunication networks, Internet and mobile communications;
- gambling establishments should be opened only in special zones;
- it is forbidden to create gambling territories in the zones of settlements;
- by law, gaming institutions (bookmaker organizations) it is prohibited to accept bets by means of electronic money transfer.
Download FZ 244 about gambling business
The law banning gambling business in Russia implies special territories, which are allowed to create a gambling business. Where is the population allowed to gamble?. This Federal Law No. 244 defines territories for building such an institution.
Aspects of land selection are indicated in 11 article of this law:
- Square, where the gambling business is created, should not be owned and used by citizens and legal entities. The exception is land plots, designed for engineering infrastructure facilities and for hosting the Olympic Games;
- At the time of creation, objects may be located on the gambling territory, state-owned.
Based on the provisions 11 of the article there is a definition of land for the construction of a gambling business. IN 10 the article of this law specifies aspects of the management of gambling zones. According to the law, supervisory authorities have the right:
- organize interaction between the gambling business and government authorities;
- give out, reissue and revoke permits for gambling;
- control the conduct of gambling;
- provide authorized persons with reports on the supervision of gaming organizations.
According to Federal Law No. 244, authorized persons have the right to revoke a permit to conduct gambling in the following cases:
- the gambling establishment does not meet all the requirements of the law;
- entity, being the founder and organizer of the gambling business, is at the stage of liquidation;
- the organizer of the gambling business violated the rules for conducting his activities outside the gambling zone;
- the management of the gambling establishment repeatedly provides inaccurate information to authorized persons;
- at the request of the head of the gambling business.
To learn all the nuances of doing business with gambling, you must study the full version of this law. You can download the latest version of the law "On state regulation of activities for the organization and conduct of gambling and on amendments to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation" here.
How the Russian betting market will change after the law comes into force?
According to Yuri Krasovsky, для среднестатистического игрока, who could find the site of an illegal bookmaker in the search results, there will be another obstacle for placing bets on such a site. This will increase the flow of companies to legal betting sites, SROs. The state will receive additional taxes, and the player's rights will be guaranteed.
"But, in my opinion, the main influx of customers should be expected, when will the main problems of the industry be solved, and players will have more incentives, to consciously make a choice in favor of legal Russian bookmakers ", - emphasized Mr. Krasovsky.
Nikolay Oganezov reported, what, in his opinion, the Russian betting market will not undergo significant changes.
"You can speak, that the main players of foreign gambling sites have already adapted to the situation of constant blocking and difficulties, related to money transfers ", - noted the specialist.
How the regulation of sports betting on the Runet will affect players?
It's not a secret to anybody, what is more competition in the market, the higher the quality of the services and products provided. To me as a player, naturally, I want to, so that I have a choice between many bookmakers, so that in the fight for me as a client, they pay more and more attention to the quality of their services. By the quality of services in the field of sports betting I mean the reliability and honesty of bookmakers, helpful and friendly support team, high odds and wide range of bets, as well as the speed of payments.
We discuss below about, How will the main points of the draft amendments to Law No. 244-FZ affect the quality of services?.
Additional 100 million rubles to enter the SRO
The current amendments make it even more difficult for small companies to enter the sports betting market. In addition to 500 millions of rubles of a bank guarantee will have to pay a fee to enter the SRO - 100 million rubles. Can, it's bad for business, but for me as a player it's kind of good. After all, earlier it was guaranteed that I would have been paid a prize of only 500 million rubles, and now whole 600 million. If serious, then I agree, what large companies should operate in this segment.
But the point is, that in Russia the concepts of a large company and a decent company correlate very weakly. Sometimes it seems to me, that they don't correlate at all. So, eg, the largest Russian office "FON" cannot be called an example of decency. They block the accounts of professional players, confiscate their balances and make refunds more often than others. Next on the list are "Betcity", Baltbet, "Zenith". We receive complaints about all these companies almost every day.. Meanwhile, companies, which are smaller, manage to solve most of the problems of their players at the stage of contacting support. Paradox, isn't it true? But no, everything is much simpler. Companies, which are smaller, trying to compete with the big ones by creating a company image with a good reputation. It turns out, what companies, showing decency to their clientele, not motivated, that they have enough funds for this, namely competition. Finally, additional 100 million will not be a serious hindrance for operating companies, but this innovation cannot be called a positive / useful change. Perhaps, this is a senseless and unjustified innovation.
Creation of a single center for recording rates and a single payment system
The rate accounting center was originally supposed to carry, obviously, a useful function of collecting market information - with the aim of using it later in the interests of the state, eg. But instead, amendments to the law provide for the creation of a unified payment system on the basis of this center., which will be allowed to take commission as from the player, and from the bookmaker's office. I dislike this item the most.. Because there are two options for using this lever:
1. Set an acceptable commission, which we - the players will ultimately pay for. Since it's not a secret to anyone, that the only method of covering the costs in the bookmaker's office is to increase the margin. It means, that odds in bookmakers will be lower, and we - the players - will win less or lose more (who is more comfortable).
2. Put such a commission, in which other offices do not want to work on the Russian market and "enjoy" the monopoly. I will not dwell on the dangers of monopoly. Everybody already knows, that under a monopoly the final consumer of services always suffers.
How exactly this lever will be used, We do not know. But I don't want to rely on the prudence of people and would rather, so that this possibility is completely excluded.
so, as a player I am against amendments, because they can only affect the players in a negative way.
The second position on this issue is my position as the owner of the site "Rating of Bookmakers".
How the law will affect the gambling industry?
At first, these laws do not apply to the domestic market, which are very strictly regulated in their activities and are absolutely controlled by the state. The foreign online gambling industry does not fall within the scope of regulation of the Russian legislation.
That's the law 244 FZ (and 358 FZ, as an amendment) just by a certain measure and closes this gap. Ban the sites themselves they, basically, can not, therefore, we chose a different path - to prohibit deposits and withdrawals from online gambling (we have already written about the withdrawal of money). what, basically, logically, since there is no money - there is no way to play. It seems that everything is the finish, however, things are actually not that simple.
Even though, that banks are obliged to block these operations, but the process itself is very complicated and complicated. The law came into force since 1 january 2018 of the year, articles on blocking - in May, but they started just now.
What is the reason?
This is due to the fact, what is needed for this 2 things:
- Required software, who can track these transactions. With this, like, no problems on the one hand, on the other hand, for this it is necessary to allocate additional power. Do not forget about the "Yarovaya package", which also requires serious investments in the re-equipment of the banking sector.
- The blocking procedure itself. To block a payment, the company must have a code, assigned by the payment system, which will contain information about, that this payment goes to gambling or is simply on the Black List of the Federal Tax Service. Getting there is also not easy. To do this, you need to have indisputable evidence that, that the company is engaged in the organization of gambling. Roughly speaking, representatives of the Federal Tax Service will make test purchases, on the basis of which a decision will be made to include the resource in the Black List. It's much easier with payment codes., everything here rests only on software and bank resources.
Is there a way out of the situation?
The question of a complete ban on such transfers is a matter of time. It is possible to predict a surge in the activity of online exchangers. Experts talk about the use of cryptocurrencies, which just would not be prevented by such a surge now.
Or for example, if you fund your non-gambling NETELLER wallet, and then transfer this money to your Skrill wallet, you can use the funds for absolutely any purpose. This provides a number of tangible benefits:
- At first, both accounts belong to you, which makes payments absolutely safe.
- Secondly, they can also be easily displayed later.
What should players do?
First of all, be prepared for, that soon, perhaps, they will face difficulties in depositing and withdrawing funds from accounts in illegal bookmaker companies in Russia. Likely, the solution will be found sooner or later, but you have to endure. Therefore, if you are not ready for this turn of events, it is worth withdrawing all funds from accounts and follow the development of events.
Predict something, how will the situation develop now with the application of the new law in practice, very difficult, almost impossible. Therefore, each player must decide for himself - to move to legal Russian companies or to hope for that., that offshore bookmakers will be creative in their transfer methods, and the FTS will not be so effective in the issue of prompt blocking of channels for depositing and withdrawing funds.
How payment systems will act?
Obey, after all, no one wants to risk their commercial activities due to payments to illegal bookmakers. At the same time, so far the operators cannot give a forecast as to whether, how the new law will affect their activities.
"List from the Federal Tax Service with a list of companies, to which payments are prohibited, we haven't received yet. It's hard to predict without it, how the innovations will affect the activities of our company ", - informed the "Rating of Bookmakers" in the press service of the payment system "Yandex.Money".
По мнению председателя совета директоров НКО «Мобильная карта» Антона Рожковского, претензии государства не ограничиваются офшорными букмекерскими компаниями, but concern all illegal online gambling business in general: online casino, slot machines, foreign lotteries, online poker and other illegal gambling organizations.
Banks, working in Russia, will strictly comply with the requirements of the register of the Federal Tax Service, they are under serious control ", - emphasized Mr. Rozhkovsky.
Are Russian bookmakers satisfied with the innovations??
In general, yes, albeit with some reservations. Everything will depend on, how effectively this law will work.
“I have a positive attitude to the law, as, At first, this is the law, Secondly, it is aimed at good, and not in spite of. If the effectiveness of the law is at least 50%, then this will already be a tangible barrier for the functioning of illegal bookmakers on the Internet ", — заявил глава подкомитета ТПП РФ по букмекерской деятельности и тотализаторам, член совета Первой СРО и высокопоставленный представитель БК «Бетсити» Николай Оганезов.
По словам генерального директора БК Bwin Россия Дмитрия Сергеева, the law is good, which will restrict the work of not only illegal bookmakers, but also, eg, online casino.
“If the list is quickly replenished and all companies will be included there, who will carry out acquiring to illegal bookmakers, then the bill will most likely work. Otherwise, most likely there will be several new intermediaries, which will simply increase the cost of acquiring for offshore bookmakers, but they won't let the bill work ", - emphasized Mr. Sergeev.
According to the President of the First SRO Yuri Krasovsky, law, certainly, is effective for the industry.
“It is worth recognizing, that the efforts and active actions of Roskomnadzor to block the sites of illegal bookmaker offices are clearly not enough. I think, that ways will gradually be found to circumvent and ban translations, but at the moment, the activities of illegal bookmakers will definitely complicate
Very important, how it will be performed, what by-laws will be adopted, necessary for its execution ", - noted Mr. Krasovsky
He also added, that any restrictive measures will never have the desired effect without simultaneously creating conditions for players and bookmakers in Russia.
“This is also a solution to the problem of duplicate identification, and resolution of existing issues regarding withholding personal income tax from players. Only with an integrated approach will the fight against illegal business be effective ", - said the expert.
Президент СРО букмекеров Дарина Денисова сообщила, что нововведения отвечают духу времени и направлены на то, to completely bring Russian betting to civilized standards, for which the industry operates in the best European regulated jurisdictions. However, she is also not sure, that the law will work with 100% efficiency.
"Illegal offshore BC, certainly, will try to find new ways to get around the ban for payment systems and banking spheres to accept payments to them. It's an epic fight, to win in which the regulator must have tremendous patience and be ready to apply the most severe financial sanctions. Only time will tell, how effective will the blacklist of transaction violators, widely advertised by the FTS ", - emphasized Ms. Denisova.
Why is all this needed?
По словам юриста ООО «ПЛ» Марии Лепщиковой, государство хочет получать налоги с официально работающих легальных букмекеров и операторов государственных лотерей. Moreover, the state should protect legal business from unfair competition.. That is, you need to do something to combat illegal bookmakers.
“Any action is better, than complete inaction from the point of view of the interests of the state in collecting taxes. However, like the domain name registry, sites and page pointers, to be blocked, предлагаемая мера не может рассматриваться ни как панацея, nor as a final point in the fight of the state against illegal bookmakers ", - emphasized Ms. Lepshchikova.
History of the bill
For the first time, they started talking about the ban on transfers to illegal bookmakers in 2015 year. Тогда Минфин уведомил о планах внести поправки в закон 115-ФЗ «О противодействии легализации (laundering) income, illegally obtained, and the financing of terrorism ", запрещающие банкам обрабатывать транзакции граждан России в пользу не лицензированных организаторов азартных игр и лотерей.
Однако этот проект получил отрицательный отзыв от ЦБ РФ и отрицательную оценку от Минэкономразвития, после чего его возвратили на доработку.
The new version of the bill was submitted for discussion in February 2017 of the year. 6 февраля документ одобрила правительственная комиссия по законопроектной деятельности, а спустя две недели законопроект № 108659-7 "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Lotteries "and the Federal Law" On State Regulation of Activities for the Organization and Conduct of Gambling and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation "submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
In the beginning of April 2017 года Комитет Государственной думы РФ по бюджету и налогам рекомендовал принять законопроект в первом чтении, a 14 April MPs did it. Consideration of the document continued in November: in the second reading it was adopted 8 November, a 15 November - in the final, third reading.
22 November at its meeting, the bill was considered and approved by the Federation Council, a 27 November, the law was signed by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
The ban on transfers to illegal bookmakers was introduced into the Federal Law of 29 December 2006 года №244-ФЗ «О государственном регулировании деятельности по организации и проведению азартных игр и о внесении изменений в некоторые законодательные акты Российской Федерации». Изменения вступают в силу через 180 days after the day of the official publication of the law. Respectively, the ban should work 26 May 2018 of the year.
How to legally bypass the blocking of an account according to FZ-115?
Russian banks are required to receive information about the sources of origin of funds in customer accounts, information about the nature of the business relationship, peculiarities of economic activity (Article 7 №115-FZ). If the financial institution receives insufficient information, then he has the right to block the client's account: terminate operations on it. The law provides about twenty grounds for blocking an account. Is it realistic to bypass them in a legal way?
Is the blocking of the client's account legal??
There is no concept of "account blocking" in Russian legislation. Freeze non-cash accounts, valuable papers, property, the bank can only if there are real grounds for the owner's involvement in extremist activity or terrorism. However, the financial institution can suspend operations: it is enough for him to prove, that the account holder did not indicate the source of income or did not disclose the specifics of his activities (Art. 8 №115-FZ).
reference! The bank is not obliged to inform the person in advance about the suspension of operations on his account. Most often the client learns about it, when measures have already been taken (Art. 4 №115-FZ).
You can appeal the decision of the servicing bank through the court. However, if documents on financial and economic situation, sources of funds, beneficiaries, the rights to assets and property in the financial institution will not be, the account holder's guilt will be proven.
reference! Even, if the person's bank account is blocked, he is deprived of the right to conduct operations on him, but retains ownership of the funds placed on it.
How to avoid blocking an account under FZ-115?
1. Transfer the necessary documents to the bank
At the time of opening an account, you should request from the bank a list of securities for specific financial transactions. All papers must be submitted with a list and signature of the receiving bank employee. If the entrepreneur does not have any document from the list, he must provide a reasoned justification for this.
2. Timely make changes to the Unified Register
If the individual entrepreneur or organization has expanded or changed the list of activities, then you should immediately make changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRIP). If the company makes a deal with OKVED codes, which are not in her documents, then her bank account may be blocked.
3. Disclose registration address
When registering an account, it is important to indicate in the papers the legal address or give a link to the site, where is the location map of the company. 4
Describe in detail the purpose of payment
4. Describe in detail the purpose of payment
If the "Purpose of payment" column contains an operation, concealing economic meaning (payment for the supply of raw materials, payment for the services of a programmer, etc.), then the bank will have no questions to the client and the grounds for blocking the account (Letter from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation from 31.12.2014 r. No. 236-T). In this case, you need to be ready to submit supporting documents to the bank - civil contracts, money orders, receipts.
5. Report transfers more 600 thousand. rub.
If the user wants to make an operation in the amount of 600 thousand. rub. on account, you should notify the servicing bank in advance.
reference! Commercial banks of the Russian Federation are exempt from liability for blocking customer accounts (Art. 12 №115-FZ).
How to get around ФЗ-115 - additional ways
There are cases, when customers have followed all of the above prescriptions, but the account was still blocked. How not to be among the "losers"? Take advantage of additional, quite legal methods of overcoming the vicissitudes of FZ-115:
do not use personal bank cards for business purposes: I will block the account, and the claims will be sent to the company's current account;
do not open personal and business accounts from one device: the system will save cookies, and the bank will track the coincidence of the data and, when one account is blocked, it will automatically block other accounts of the same owner;
use non-cash payments whenever possible, cash withdrawals always raise suspicion of the bank, and in the absence of a reasonable source of income, it is guaranteed to lead to account blocking.
reference! Safe in this respect are withdrawals for salary payments or social benefits..
If the account is blocked without substantial grounds, you should file a claim with the court. You should not be afraid of the bank's threats in "blacklisting all Russian banks". In court, the financial institution must confirm on the basis of documents, why the client was caught in the legalization of income, obtained by crime or terrorist financing.
SocButtons v1.4
What to expect for players?
Вступление в силу изменений «О государственном регулировании деятельности по организации и проведению азартных игр» может привести к тому, that many players, которые делают ставки онлайн на сайтах нелегальных букмекеров или играют в иностранных покер-румах, столкнуться с проблемами пополнения игровых счетов и вывода денег с них в банк.
В настоящее время изменения не коснулись иностранных платежных систем, в том числе Skrill и NETELLER. Moreover, законодательство РФ не предусматривает блокировку переводов средств кредитным организациям и платежным агентам (которыми и являются Skrill и NETELLER).
Recall, что присоединившись к программе VipDeposits + Skrill или/и VipDeposits + NETELLER, you can get Silver status immediately after account verification and use an electronic wallet with practically no commissions and restrictions. Learn more about Skrill Silver benefits here, You can read about the benefits of using NETELLER Silver here.
How payment systems will work?
Payment systems, who work in the Russian market, are unlikely to want to risk their business, therefore they will abide by the law. To say exactly, how the innovations will affect the work of electronic payment operators, while it's difficult.
Currently, the list of illegal organizers of gambling on the FTS website has not yet been published.. The list of credit institutions includes banks and payment systems, which are registered in Russia.
На данный момент платежные системы Skrill и NETELLER являются альтернативой российским платежным системам в сфере трансграничных переводов. This is due to the, that these e-wallets are not tax residents of the Russian Federation, their activities are governed by UK law.
Unlike domestic payment systems, Skrill and NETELLER have the option of funding through more than just bank payments, but also bitcoins.
What illegal bookmakers will do?
It is impossible to say for sure, but surely they will not sit back, after all, on the nose of the 2018 World Cup, which will attract new clients, but at the moment about 70% Russian players place bets in illegal bookmakers.
According to Maria Lepshchikova, illegal bookmakers will not want to abandon all Russian clients, therefore they will look for ways to lengthen the payment chain, so as not to get blocked.
What can be done here? maybe, banks and payment systems will be involved in the work, who are not residents of the Russian Federation and do not have representative offices in Russia. maybe, some "gaskets" will appear, who will act as intermediaries between the player and the bookmaker, however, in this case there will always be a risk that, that the intermediary will also be blacklisted by the Federal Tax Service.
One of the possible ways to bypass blocking is cryptocurrencies, which are gradually entering the betting market. Probably, the new law may give an impetus to an increase in the share of payments by cryptocurrencies.
The situation for Russian gambling establishments
The bank's press service commented on this situation as follows. They declare, that they are guided by Russian law, and in particular by law No. 244. In which a ban on card payments in favor of foreign operators is clearly spelled out, organizing gambling. Gambling establishments located on the territory of the Russian Federation, this prohibition does not in any way apply. And you can make a payment without any restrictions.
With this prohibitive method, the government is trying to support domestic producers. Which is sometimes difficult to compete with more eminent foreign companies. Which in turn will increase tax revenues from Russian operators of the gambling industry.
These measures affected not only poker rooms, but also bookmakers, casino, other similar establishments. FTS has already compiled a list of companies, banned. And he will keep his finger on the pulse constantly updating it.
Who will block money transfers?
The article 5-1 it says, that blocking money transfers to illegal bookmakers and other organizers of gambling should be carried out:
- payment agents;
- credit institutions.
In this way, blocking of money transfers will be carried out by banks and other legal entities, whose activity allows you to accept payments from individuals.
The list of illegal bookmakers and other prohibited online gambling sites is included in the list of "prohibited recipients of money transfers". And now the law obliges the credit institution to refuse cross-border transfer of funds through:
- cards;
- bank account;
- electronic money
to the organization, which is on this list. Paying agents are also not allowed to accept payments to such organizations..
According to the law, a legal entity can be included in the list of "prohibited recipients of money transfers", and was excluded from it either following the consideration of the relevant application, or following a court decision.
Wherein, The Russian government implements:
- maintaining this list of "prohibited recipients of money transfers";
- its provision to credit institutions;
- as well as a list of credit institutions, which should block money transfers.
The list of illegal organizers of gambling will be published in periodicals, and will also be available on the official websites of the state body.
Solution to the problem
Known, that the popular foreign payment systems Skrill / Neteller / ecoPayz will not be affected by these restrictions. Therefore, it would be quite reasonable to switch to them in settlements with poker rooms..
Russian electronic wallets such as qiwi and Yandex Money are still working flawlessly. These services easily make deposits to poker rooms and bookmakers. But how long will it last, and when to wait for the next tightening of Russian legislation is difficult to answer. Moreover, there are rumors on the Internet that Sberbank will take over the Yandex Money service..
So far, such tough measures have been taken only with respect to deposits. Cashew, usually, pass without problems. But how long will this last again be a big question.
Conclusion
Based on the above, we can assume, that most regs will easily bypass this ban, reseeding to e-wallets, and many have been using them for a long time. But the influx of new players from our country can greatly decrease. And old fish who do not want to bother with the transition to alternative methods can stop carrying their hard-earned money at the poker tables.
