Bills on Regulation of Lotteries and Gambling: Industry News Digest

Russia has approved the bill on changes to the lottery regulation, new rules may be introduced for bookmakers, and Suncity Group Holdings has purchased shares of the Primorye gambling zone’s investor. Read about the main events in the gambling industry further in the digest.

New bill on the lottery market regulation

Commission for legislative drafting activities has approved the bill on changes in the regulation of lotteries. Further, itwillbereviewedatthegovernmentsession.

The Federal Act “About lotteries” obliges operators to make purpose-oriented allocations from lotteries every quarter. To eliminate legal uncertainty, the bill proposes to allocate these funds to the federal budget.

Besides, the bill rules out the possibility of conducting instant lotteries with electronic tickets and use of information and telecommunications networks.

Russia will introduce new rules for bookmakers

In the future, Russian bookmakers will have to conclude deals with subjects of professional sport. New rules are specified in the bill on changes in the gambling regulation.

According to the bill, betting houses, all-Russian sports federations and professional sports leagues will coordinate bets on any events. Besides, bookmakers will pay purpose-oriented allocations to subjects of professional sport.

The bill also proposes to change the allocations distribution percentage for professional and youth sports. The share of gambling allocations to the development of the youths sport will grow to 40%.

Gambling brought 10 million rubles to the budget of Altai Territory

According to data of the Ministry of Finance of Altai Territory, gambling business deductions to the budget of the region reached 10 million rubles in the first quarter of 2019.

The report of the Ministry of Finance states that gambling operators paid 10.62 million rubles in taxes from January to March. Last year, gambling operators paid 10.68 million rubles in the same period.

Suncity Group Holdings purchased shares of the investor of Primorye

Suncity Group Holdings increased its ownership interest in Summit Ascent Holdings, which develops Tigre de Cristal Casino in the Primorye gambling zone.

Officials of Suncity Group Holdings say that the company wants to increase investments in tourism real estate in countries except for China, and Russia is a favorable market for investments.

The share of Suncity Group Holdings grew from 3.29 to 27.97% of stockholder capital of Summit Ascent.

Russian bookmakers paid 128 million rubles to develop sports

Members of SRO Association of Bookmakers paid the total sum of allocations to the development of professional and youth sports 128 million rubles in the first quarter of 2019.

The president of the industry organization Darina Denisova provided this information. She also explained that allocations include interactive betting from the start of 2019.

According to Denisova, allocations from the online betting sector will significantly strengthen the support of the Russian sports.