Russian bookmakers' year-end results

allslotsonline.casino portal editor on sports betting industry metamorphosis and bookmakers' annual reports results

At the end of January the aforementioned portal published a material about the results of 2020 for betting shops, their customers and investors in connection with the whole gambling market. A chronology of the industry's main events and how to adapt to the changes is summarised in our article. 

January: opposition to commission amendments. The Ministry of Finance actively supported the idea of clearing jurisdictions for gambling and betting offices from irrelevant and inaccurate regulations, which could create conflict situations. Bookmakers at the beginning of the year supported national sport in every way possible: for example, BingoBoom undertook a campaign to buy sports equipment to schools at no cost. 

February: The Ministry of Economic Development fights against betting sites that do not comply with the adopted classifier. As a result, owners have been forced to terminate contracts, undergo registration classification and only then reopen. All sorts of data streams, including personal information, were collected about bettors and transmitted to the Federal Tax Service. Soon the BK SRO presented an analysis according to which the PBS was losing out in terms of traffic to online sports betting services. Online activities, if not already available online, have been deployed by almost all major betting shops. 

March: All sporting events were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and matches were played without fans. World figure skating and hockey championships were cancelled. Bookmakers began to focus on the process of integrating cyber sports into the business. There is no reaction from the authorities: bookmakers have sent a request to the government to cancel the mandatory target deduction of 15 million rubles. 

April: betting rates fell by 70%. At first, the betting market left the figure at 40%, but by the end of the month it did not hold out. BKs fought the decline in revenue with the help of cyber sports. At the same time, the economy ministry and the attorney general were working on a decision to include gambling and its holders in the country's forming infrastructure list: the firm could then ask for compensation in view of the coronavirus situation and the crisis. However, bettors were not included in the list. 

May: an influential player - betting firm BetFair - left the market. It turned out that the service did not have a licence. The Federal Tax Service did not voice any complaints. Online streaming for live events appeared. All spectators stayed at home, heard and saw the events and sporting events: protection measures at the games were maintained. 

June: The head of the BWF proposes to disband the SRFO of sports betting as an institution and instead create a body to regulate the recovery of betting shops' target deductions. The aim of the initiative is to create monitoring for the entire market in unified hands. 

July: traffic to betting sites rose by a record 26.3%. However, the betting segment as a whole sagged by around 75%. Gambling hall, betting and betting were split into three separate licences and the registration process was changed. 

August: steps towards market recovery.  Bookmaking via online wallets made safer by Qiwi and Sberbank reforms. The State Duma raised the bank guarantee for bookmakers. 

September: The government vetoed the ability of betting shops to raise capital from resources that are not owned by the office. Launches 'Responsible Gambling' service to reduce indication of gambling addiction in the country: bookmakers with a licence backed the campaign. Rescheduled previously cancelled events. 

October: The Ministry of Finance has proposed an increase in the target deductions for betting shops. According to bettors, an increase in betting in a crisis would force the operator to seek circumvention of the law. 

November: Initiative to create a global regulator for sports betting and gambling business. Targeted payouts raised. Online BK traffic increased by 7%, reaching over thirty million hits. 

December: There was growing excitement about the new regulator. All medium and small companies were under threat. As a result, VulkanBet, which had been operating on the market for 15 years, closed down. 

The ERAI body is now operational and a 1.5% tax on each bet has been introduced welcome bonus casino. The difficult year 2020 for bookmakers is over.