New Russian online gambling tax proposals criticised

A speaker at the G2E Asia i-gaming conference in Macau this week opined that proposed new Russian tax impositions on internet betting operators would kill off a promising market.

Christian Melin, head of gaming R&D at Marathon Bet, told delegates that the federal government in Russia has proposed that operators be compelled to pay licensing fees in each of the twelve Russian provinces where they operate and an annual “national” fee in addition to a 10 percent levy on turnover.

“If that happens the market will be more or less dead as no one will be able to pay that and bring in a profit,” said Melin, adding that there was some hope that vigorous lobbying by the industry will motivate politicians to relent on at least some of their proposals.

One way they could do that would be to base taxes on profit rather than turnover, Melin said, observing that the alternative to compromise for lawmakers would be a market where no one could afford to operate, defeating their goal of raising more tax revenues.

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