Ru-betting and taxes: is the industry doomed?

While we were dealing with tax regimes in the bourgeoisie, we missed what is happening right here and now. It seems that rouble betting is also going to have a hard time.

The Finance Ministry has proposed two new taxes for bookmakers: 5% on each bet and 25% on profits. Quote:

«These measures will make it possible to take into account not only turnovers, but also the real financial result of companies. In addition, they will ensure transparency of the gambling business, which traditionally has high turnovers and low tax returns.» If we compare it with Europe, it doesn't look so harsh. RF will rank 21st in terms of the size of the tax rate on profits for BC. But, for example, in Monaco and Iceland bookmakers do not pay taxes at all. And in their neighbors, in Belarus the profit tax is only 10%.

The reaction of the representatives of the sphere is unambiguous - the mid-sized and small BCs will have a bad time. For example, the general director of Fonbet Alexander Paramonov said: «There will be simply nothing to collect 25% of profit tax from», and «the industry will go into the minus and will self-liquidate gradually, going into the shadows».

PARI head Ruslan Medved thinks the same:

«Revenues will be sharply reduced and many, especially the smaller players, will be forced to either exit the market or look for opportunities outside the legal sector. All this brings (...) an increase in the gray market and a decrease in transparency.» There is another opinion. Yuri Mirzoev, director of the National Law Company «Mitra», is sure that the measure is fair: the bookmaker business is a source of social risks (gambling addiction, debts of the population). The «polluter pays» principle works. And it is better to raise taxes on betting companies than, for example, on small businesses.

In fact, we have all seen what strict regulation and tightening of the screws leads to. Players lose bonuses, legal bookmakers lose their margins, and offshore bettors, as usual, stay afloat. Let's watch together what will happen next.