What is gambling business. Gambling business in modern Russia

Gambling business in Russia in 2016 - one of the most actively regulated activities by the state. The strictness of the laws regulating the work of relevant commercial enterprises gives rise to many representatives of the business community to talk about its actual illegality in the Russian Federation. Let's see how legitimate this thesis is.

What is legal under the gambling law

The illegality of the gambling business in the Russian Federation most often refers to a wide range of restrictions on the activities of commercial enterprises of this profile, which were mainly introduced in 2009 - against the backdrop of a social resonance that arose due to the increase in gambling addiction of citizens, especially teenagers.

Therefore, it is legitimate to talk not so much about legalization of gambling business in Russia in 2016 year (it is not prohibited in principle), how much about the specifics of its very strict regulation, restrictions on its implementation and possible prospects for their removal.

Let's study the rules of law, according to which this type entrepreneurial activity is regulated and, in fact, acquires legality. The main legislative document regulating the relevant type of business is the law “On state regulation of activities related to the organization gambling» dated December 29, 2006 No. 244-FZ.

However, this source of law does not disclose the concept of gambling business. But it can easily be classified as a group of activities that fall under the classification of gambling. And this concept is precisely enshrined in law No. 244-FZ. A similar interpretation of the term “gambling business” is given in Art. 364 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - as a commercial activity for the establishment of gambling.

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 4 of Law No. 244-FZ, gambling should be understood as a risk-based contract for winnings, which is concluded by two or more participants of this agreement between themselves or with the founder of the gambling game in accordance with the rules established by the latter.

A type of gambling - a bet - is concluded between the participants of the gambling game (or with its founder) and involves determining the outcome of the winning agreement depending on the occurrence of some event, the course of which cannot be influenced by the parties to the relevant agreement (clause 2 of article 4 of law No. 244 -FZ).

"Classics" and sweepstakes

The general description of gambling given in Law No. 244-FZ includes classic gambling organized using:

slot machines;
playing tables - with chips, cards and other gambling components.

The description of a bet includes a betting shop and a bookmaker's office - institutions that accept bets on the outcome of certain competitions (in most cases in the field of professional sports).

Thus, the most common formats of gambling are allowed in principle in the Russian Federation: drawings through slot machines, casinos, sweepstakes, and bookmakers. However, the territory where the games are held is important.

In all regions of the Russian Federation, betting shops and bookmakers are legal, provided they are established in accordance with the requirements of Law No. 244-FZ and the corresponding regulations. In turn, classic gambling - slot machines and casinos - are prohibited in most parts of the Russian Federation. They are allowed only in specialized gambling zones.

Thus, “classic” gambling is illegal in all regions of the Russian Federation, except for gambling zones. Sweepstakes and bookmakers are legal throughout Russia.

The law establishes very strict requirements for gambling organizers.

Who can be the founder of gambling in the Russian Federation?

The following people can run a gambling business in the Russian Federation:

legal entities registered in the Russian Federation;
companies with net assets of at least 600,000,000 rubles. (If we're talking about on conducting games in a casino format and using slot machines), as well as at least 1,000,000,000 rubles. (if we are talking about the activities of betting shops and bookmakers);
companies with an authorized capital of at least 100,000,000 rubles. (if we are talking about a bookmaker or sweepstakes);
companies that have bank guarantees valid for at least 5 years in the amount of at least 500,000,000 rubles. (if again we are talking about a bookmaker or sweepstakes).

As we noted above, classic gambling - with slot machines and in a casino format - is permitted only in specialized areas.

Where are gambling zones located in the Russian Federation?

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 9 of Law No. 244-FZ, 5 gambling zones have been formed on the territory of the Russian Federation - territories where all types of gambling are permitted. They are located:

in the Republic of Crimea;
in the Altai region;
in the Krasnodar Territory (until 01/01/2019);
in Primorsky Krai;
in the Kaliningrad region.

Once created, a gambling zone cannot be closed earlier than 10 years after its formation (Clause 7, Article 9 of Law No. 244-FZ).

In order to start operating gambling in the relevant zone, businesses must obtain permits (clause 8 of article 4, clause 1 of article 13 of law No. 244-FZ). They are issued without a validity period.

Let's consider the specifics of bookmakers and totalizators - organizers of gambling, whose activities are permitted, in turn, throughout Russia.

Legalization of gambling business in Russia: betting shops and bookmakers

Bookmakers and betting shops can operate throughout the country, provided:

availability of a license (clause 2 of article 14 of law No. 244-FZ);
membership in the self-regulatory organization of gambling founders (Clause 5, Article 14 of Law No. 244-FZ).

The betting or bookmaker license must indicate that the gambling organizer has the right to establish betting procedures - the main subject of winning agreements in the betting and bookmaker format. For example, this could be a bet regarding the outcome of a sports game.

Is the online gaming business legal?

Online analogues of classic gambling - in the form of virtual casinos and slot machines - are prohibited in the Russian Federation (Clause 3, Article 5 of Law No. 244-FZ). In addition, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in its ruling dated October 9, 2012 in case No. 91-KGPR12-3, established that Russian providers are obliged to block sites that offer users to play in the appropriate format.

In turn, betting shops and bookmakers can operate online as interactive betting operators. In other words, accepting cash V in electronic format and paying winnings also via the Internet, when processing centers are involved (clauses 3.1, 25, 26 of Article 4 of Law No. 244-FZ).

Lotteries: what are their features and key differences from the gambling business

Lotteries are often perceived as a subtype of gambling. However, from a legal point of view this is not the case. First of all, this can be observed by the example of the fact that the organization of lotteries is regulated by a separate regulatory legal act - the Law “On Lotteries” dated November 11, 2003 No. 138-FZ.

If you follow the norms of paragraph 1 of Art. 2 of Law No. 138-FZ, a lottery should be understood as a game that is organized in accordance with an agreement, within the framework of which one party (the operator) plays prize fund, and the second (participant) receives the right to cash winnings under lottery conditions. The agreement between the operator and the participant is formalized by means of a lottery ticket with a unique combination printed at the time of production.

Conditions for winning the lottery may be:

full or partial coincidence of the combination on the ticket with the combination that is played randomly by the operator (if we are talking about a lottery);
the presence of a certain combination on the ticket, which is detected after the protective coating is erased from it (if we are talking about a non-draw lottery).

The fundamental difference in the legal nature between gambling and lotteries is that the founder of the latter in the Russian Federation is the state (mainly represented by the Ministry of Finance). It organizes lotteries with the assistance of operators, concluding contracts with them on the basis open competition. A company applying for the corresponding status must meet the following requirements:

presence of legal entity status;
Possession of exclusive rights to the lottery programs used.

The management of a company that claims to be a lottery operator cannot employ people who have been convicted of economic crimes. The operator is obliged to inform the lottery organizer about persons who may influence the conduct of the drawings.

In accordance with paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 of Art. 6.1 of Law No. 138-FZ, the establishment of gambling under the guise of lotteries in the Russian Federation is prohibited, as is the use of certain types of gaming equipment for the purpose of conducting lotteries.

Online lotteries in the Russian Federation are mostly prohibited (clause 4, article 6.1 of law No. 138-FZ), with the exception of the All-Russian state lottery, as well as international games.

What's new in gambling regulation?

In the business community of the Russian Federation, discussions regarding the prospects for changes in the current legislation of the Russian Federation regulating the gambling business and related activities—the organization of lotteries—are very popular. For the most part, these discussions are not based on official data - their essence boils down to the exchange of theses on the optimization of relevant legal regulations, the need for which may be due, for example, to the desire of the state to increase tax collection from gambling businesses.

For example, the thesis that it makes sense for the legislator to introduce a rule according to which organizers of gambling will be obliged to act as tax agents and thus calculate personal income tax on winnings paid to citizens. Today, players must pay the corresponding tax for themselves.

Another notable initiative is the possibility of introducing a new format of non-draw lotteries, which involves selling tickets using specialized terminals (like vending machines), through which coffee and some food products are sold.

Note that both of these initiatives are not characterized high level support in the community of experts and entrepreneurs.

Regarding the first thesis - about establishing obligations for companies to calculate and pay personal income tax on winnings - there are objections primarily from businessmen. The essence of these objections is that businessmen consider the technologically extremely complex procedure for fulfilling obligations as a tax agent, in particular, due to the need to collect a fairly large amount of personal data from players (not only passport data, but also TIN, information about the status of a tax resident of the Russian Federation at the player, etc.).

The second initiative does not find support among legislators, who believe that the appropriate sales format lottery tickets, in fact, is an analogue of playing classic slot machines, which can provoke an increase in people's dependence on such games. Let us recall that it was precisely this that became one of the factors in the introduction by the state in 2009 of significant restrictions on the activities of the founders of gambling in the Russian Federation.

Results

IN 2016 year gambling business in Russia, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, it is classified into 2 main categories:

activities related to organizing the operation of casinos, as well as games involving slot machines;
activities of betting and bookmakers.

The first type of business is allowed in 5 specialized gambling zones of the Russian Federation. The second is in all Russian regions, provided that the game organizer has a license, as well as membership in a self-regulatory structure.

From a legal point of view, lotteries should be considered separately from the gambling business. In the Russian Federation, they can only be carried out by government agencies - with the involvement of operators with whom contracts are concluded through a competition.

The activities of lotteries that are not state or international are prohibited on the Russian Internet. There is a ban on online casinos and virtual slot machines in the Russian Federation. However, bookmakers and totalizators can operate on the Russian Internet in order to accept interactive bets.

You can study the specifics of taxation of the gambling business in the following articles:

The first machines began to be installed in 1988 - in hotels of the USSR State Committee for Tourism. In his system, the VHVO “Intourservice” was formed, which developed new types additional services for foreign tourists with payment in freely convertible currency. In the first year, 226 slot machines with cash winnings were installed in Intourist hotels in Moscow, Leningrad, Sochi, Yalta, Minsk, Tallinn, Vyborg and Pyatigorsk.

The first casino in the USSR, Astoria Palace, opened in the Estonian SSR in the spring of 1989 at the Palace Hotel in Tallinn. The second casino was opened in Moscow on August 23, 1989 at the Savoy Hotel.

In 2005, the turnover of this area amounted to $5,000,000,000-6,000,000,000; there were about 400,000 slot machines and 5,000 gaming tables in the country. By 2006, over 6,300 gambling licenses had been issued.

Up to 60% of domestic gambling clubs were concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The industry leaders were Ritzio Entertainment Group (Vulcan network), Storm International (Super Slots network and several casinos in Moscow and St. Petersburg) and the Jackpot company.

State regulation of activities related to the organization and conduct of gambling is carried out by:

establishing the procedure for carrying out activities for organizing and conducting gambling and the corresponding restrictions, mandatory requirements for organizers of gambling, gambling establishments, visitors to gambling establishments, gambling zones;
allocation of territories intended for activities related to organizing and conducting gambling - gambling zones;
issuing permits to carry out activities related to organizing and conducting gambling in gambling zones;
issuing licenses to carry out activities related to organizing and conducting gambling in bookmakers and sweepstakes;
identifying, prohibiting and suppressing the activities of persons engaged in organizing and conducting gambling in violation of the legislation on state regulation of activities in organizing and conducting gambling.

The law stipulates that 4 gambling zones are created, while no more than one can be created on the territory of one subject. gambling zone. If the created gambling zone lies in several regions, then other gambling zones cannot be created on their territory. Gambling zones are being created on the territory of the Altai Territory, Primorsky Territory, Kaliningrad Region, as well as on the border of the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region. The procedure for the creation and liquidation of gambling zones, their names, boundaries, as well as other parameters of gambling zones are determined by the government in agreement with the state authorities of the constituent entities.

The validity period of gambling zones is unlimited. A decision to liquidate a gambling zone by the government cannot be made until 10 years have passed from the date of its creation. The decision to create a gambling zone may establish requirements for certain species gambling establishments, as well as other restrictions. If, within 3 years from the date of receipt of permission to carry out activities for organizing and conducting gambling in a gambling zone, the gambling organizer has not started carrying out activities for organizing and conducting gambling in the corresponding gambling zone, this permit is canceled.

Gambling establishments, with the exception of bookmakers and betting shops, can be opened only on the territory of gambling zones in the manner established by this bill. At the same time, gambling zones must be created before July 1, 2007 and cannot be created on settlement lands.

Gambling zones are managed by authorized government bodies of the subject. The governing bodies of gambling zones, which include parts of the territories of several subjects, are determined on the basis of an agreement between the government authorities of the relevant subjects.

The gambling organizer is obliged to provide information necessary to monitor compliance with legal requirements. The net assets of the gambling organizer during the entire period of activity cannot be less than: 600,000,000 rubles (for organizers of gambling in casinos and slot machine halls) and 100,000,000 rubles (for organizers of gambling in bookmakers and sweepstakes). The procedure for calculating the value of the net assets of gambling organizers is established by the Ministry of Finance, while the government may establish additional requirements for gambling organizers.

Visitors to a gambling establishment cannot be persons under the age of 18.

A gambling establishment must be divided into a service area for gambling participants and a service area of the gambling establishment. The service area for gambling participants in a casino cannot be less than 800 square meters. There must be at least 10 gaming tables installed in the casino service area. If slot machines are installed in the service area of a casino, the area of the slot machine zone cannot be less than 100 square meters, and at least 50 slot machines must be located in this area. The technologically based average winnings of a slot machine must be at least 90%.

The law came into force on January 1, 2007, while gambling establishments that meet the established requirements have the right to continue their activities until June 30, 2009 without obtaining permission to carry out activities to organize and conduct gambling in the gambling zone. All gambling establishments that do not meet the requirements established by this bill must be closed before July 1, 2007. Gambling activities using information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, as well as communications, including mobile communications, are prohibited.

The location of the gambling zone in the south of the country is determined near the village of Port-Katon in the Azov district of the Rostov region, bordering the Shcherbinovsky district of the Krasnodar Territory. The distance from Rostov-on-Don to Port Katon is about 80 km, from Krasnodar - about 300 km.

On July 1, 2009, the gambling business is closed. In February 2010, the first Oracle casino opened in the Azov City gambling zone.

However, later it was decided to liquidate the Azov City gambling zone and build it in its place cadet corps or military unit. .

As a result, over the 3 years since the closure of the gambling business, the number of underground gambling establishments in cities has sharply increased. The media constantly report about the closure of underground casinos by the police.

Notes

Links

The State Duma approved the creation of four Russian Las Vegas

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The idea of a “Russian Las Vegas” in Sochi was rejected for several years. Today, the casino is unofficially called a city-forming enterprise, and the number of visitors has exceeded half a million

The Olympics had not yet begun when investors started talking about ways to develop the post-Olympic legacy and return on investment through the gambling zone in Sochi. But the government was against it: they wanted to turn the resort town into a family recreation center for people with average incomes and below. “If we have invested such huge amounts of money here, it is not for a small group of selected citizens who can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in a casino,” Vladimir Putin said at one of the meetings.

Two years later, a gambling zone was opened in the mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana. Since December 2016, Domain LLC, the operator of Casino Sochi, has been operating here. Why has the concept of Russian resort development changed?

From croupier to wipers

On a summer evening in 2009, young people gathered on Pushkinskaya Square in the center of Moscow. Thousands of croupiers, bartenders and pit bosses have lost their jobs since July 1. After the law banning gambling in Russia came into force, they were offered positions as social workers, nurses or janitors. The decision to liquidate all gambling establishments in the country, except for bookmakers and lotteries, was made in 2006. At that time, the gambling market in Russia was estimated at approximately $5.5–6 billion. And if not for the new law, the market would have grown to $8 billion, estimated Evgeniy Kovtun, vice-president of the Association of Gambling Business Figures. For casino owners, the night of July 1, 2009 became the “X-hour” - from now on they could work exclusively in specially designated territories in the Altai, Krasnodar and Primorsky territories, as well as in the Kaliningrad region.

The next day, 1,500 km from Moscow, in the town of Molchanovka on the border of the Rostov region and the Krasnodar Territory, the first gambling zone “Azov City” was officially opened. In the middle clean field They set up tarpaulin tents with wheat and invited a delegation of investors, administration officials and journalists. “The event was grandiose and widely covered in the media,” recalls the events of almost ten years ago, Maxim Smolentsev, general director of Shambhala CJSC, a resident of Azov City. Until 2006, he had his own casino chain in Krasnodar. In 2008, Smolentsev bought a plot of land in the new zone and began construction of two casinos and a five-star hotel. His neighbor, operator from Tatarstan Royal Time Group, leased the lion's share of Azov City's land.

The governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Alexander Tkachev, who personally supervised this project, also came to the ceremony. He pressed the symbolic buttons to start electricity, gas and water, emphasizing that the region had fulfilled its obligations to investors 100% and now the word belongs to business. The official even made the first bet, on the advice of the croupier, he bet on the date of birth - 23 is red, but it came up as 27.

In total, the administration of the Krasnodar region invested about 1 billion rubles in the infrastructure of Azov City, for which it demanded certain obligations to investors: the volume of construction and delivery dates.

Smolentsev says that they couldn’t meet the deadline on time: “We paid a fine, but in the end we opened, investing a total of $10 million.” For the future, we have planned the construction of a toll road to Azov City, an airfield for small aircraft and a sea marina. The government was going to allocate 18 billion rubles for this to the Rostov region. Financing of the Krasnodar part of the zone was to be carried out within the framework of the federal target program. But the plans were not destined to come true.

Stunned by Kuban

In August 2010, the administration of President Dmitry Medvedev received a letter signed by Tkachev. In it, the governor proposed to postpone open year back to the Azov City zone further south, to Anapa, since the current location does not attract either players or investors. Rostov operators, who had already purchased equipment for the casino in Azov City, were at a loss: “We are shocked and do not understand anything, although we are in constant dialogue with the authorities.” The governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, learned about the transfer of the zone from the press and was, to put it mildly, surprised. In the fall of 2010, amendments were made to the Federal Law “On Gambling”, and the Rostov region was excluded from the list of subjects of the Russian Federation where there may be gambling zones. The regional administration was counting on an immediate economic effect, believes Maxim Smolentsev. “Everyone was talking about the thriving gambling addiction in the country and, under this pretext, they drove the business to the edge of the country. But there were no queues of people wanting to play at the casino in the outskirts,” he says. His income during the first year of operation of the new casino decreased dramatically compared to his previous business in Krasnodar by several times.

“Everyone was talking about the thriving gambling addiction in the country and, under this pretext, they drove the business to the edge of the country. But there were no queues of people wanting to play at the outlying casino.”

In September 2010, at the international investment forum in Sochi, the Krasnodar Territory presented a new project for the Golden Sands gambling and entertainment zone in Anapa. The project was enormous: a shell-shaped hotel with a pearl in the center, a casino with 1,600 slot machines, 42 beachfront villas, a golf park and a yacht harbor. “The Black Sea coast has all the infrastructure and a flow of tourists. The economic effect will be greater and faster than from Azov City,” said Vice-Governor Alexey Agafonov. The competition was won by Krasnodar-based Adaptas (Rus) and wanted to invest more than 16 billion rubles. The American company Capella Hotel Group was supposed to manage the facility; its president Horst Schulze himself came to the site and “in in a good way I was stunned by Kuban, promised to come to Anapa and supervise the acceptance,” said then the general director of Adaptas (Rus) Evgeniy Gorobets.

But things didn’t go further than the pit. Construction was constantly delayed; in addition, over the course of the year, Adaptas (Rus) accumulated debts to the land lessor and the builders. The company went to court several times, trying to reduce the rent - due to the uncertainty with the opening of a gambling zone near Anapa, the site lost its investment attractiveness. Later, Adaptas (Rus) was declared bankrupt.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in the spring of 2014, the concept of organizing the gambling business in the country changed somewhat. On the legalization of casinos and. O. Governor of Crimea Sergei Aksenov spoke at the end of March: they had planned to develop a gambling cluster here before, but now the new subject of the federation was in dire need of additional economic stimulation. The opening of the fifth gambling zone on the peninsula solved this problem - up to 25 billion rubles to the federal budget and an increase in tourist traffic by 20%. And although the Ministry of Finance, in its report by April 2014, recorded the disappointing results of the work of four gambling zones in Russia, emphasizing the futility of the experiment for Crimea, the project was approved six months later, adding Sochi to Crimea.

No worse than Crimea

At a Saturday meeting of the Sochi Public Council in May 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak was in for a surprise. The governor of the region and the mayor of the city prepared a written appeal with a proposal to establish a gambling zone within the city of Sochi, in the Imereti Valley. Six months earlier, during the Olympics, Putin said that gambling was spoiling the image of the family resort. Kozak agreed with him: “There are zones in the country, in other territories, let them develop.” He was confident that all the real estate built for the Olympics would be in demand after. Moreover, investors who want to quickly return their invested money have extended the loan repayment period. But regional authorities insisted: the maintenance of post-Olympic facilities “will place a heavy burden on budgets at all levels.” And taxes from the gambling zone will allow, for example, to support the operation of Lastochka electric trains, Tkachev added during the meeting.

Back in 2012, investors in the state-owned company Resorts spoke about retraining Olympic buildings into gambling establishments. North Caucasus", but no one supported the idea. After the asset was transferred to Sberbank, which invested more than 70 billion rubles in the construction of the Gorki Gorod resort in Krasnaya Polyana (of which 52.2 billion rubles were a loan from VEB to Sberbank), the issue was raised by German Gref. A month before the Olympics, he announced that he would sell a non-core asset (the company NJSC Krasnaya Polyana) at least in parts, and there were already interested parties. “There are not many commercial ideas on how to make the country start making money on the post-Olympic legacy,” he said.

When Gref realized that it was almost impossible to recoup investments in construction, the idea of an entertainment center arose, says a businessman who knows him. “They even wanted to lay out a green corridor from the airport so that all foreigners and simply rich people would be brought here right away,” he says. For example, a 55-kilometer bridge is being built in China to connect the gaming cluster in Macau with Hong Kong. To the government’s criticism of the proximity of gambling and family leisure, Gref replied: “Not a single ski resort in Switzerland, from Davos to St. Moritz, would have received such development without a casino.” To reinforce the idea of a “Russian Las Vegas,” the head of the bank personally met the owners large casinos world in Sochi, and they carried out a feasibility study of investments for the zone, says Forbes’ interlocutor.

Another argument was the precedent with Crimea. “The administration of the Krasnodar region was offended: they say, why is the famous Russian resort city deprived of preferences, why is it worse than Crimea?” - says Maria Lepshchikova, a lawyer at Legal Line LLC, specializing in the gambling business. According to her, in Crimea they relied on tourists and investors from Turkey, where casinos are prohibited (the Turkish holding Princess International Group was eyeing the zone). Sochi also wanted to attract foreigners, because the travel time both there and there is the same - two hours by plane. On the positive wave of the annexation of Crimea, the state decided to create two new gambling zones, says Lepshchikova. In the summer of 2014, legislators included Sochi and the Republic of Crimea in the list of regions with gambling zones, and decided to liquidate Azov City by January 1, 2019.

The right person

To the capital Winter Games Dmitry Anfinogenov was sent as a crisis manager to boost the economy of hotels that were acquired by the Soyuz Marins Group company, where he worked. Anfinogenov did well: over the course of a year, he raised the profitability of the objects entrusted to him from 30% to 50%, and net profit increased by a third. “Everything could already work without me,” recalls the top manager. One day, when he was having dinner in a cafe at his hotel, two people sat down with him and started talking. New acquaintances complained that there was not enough drinking water in the rooms. The guests learned that Dmitry was working at the hotel the next day, when they found several sealed bottles in the rooms as if ordered.

On the positive wave of the annexation of Crimea, the state decided to create two new gambling zones - Sochi and the Republic of Crimea, and to liquidate Azov City

These two turned out to be employees of the supervisory body - the Omega Center company of the Department of Property Relations of the Krasnodar Territory, which controlled preparations for the Olympics. They invited Anfinogenov to their place, he was supposed to take care of the hotel stock of 9,200 rooms. “Despite the general hysteria, in the first summer after the Olympics, Omega’s facilities reached 85% capacity, without the involvement of large tour operators,” he says. By the end of the year, Omega intended to buy NAO Krasnaya Polyana from Sberbank, but the deal did not take place. “The Department of Property Relations (the owner of Omega) did not approve,” explains Anfinogenov. - High risks, high debt exposure of the facility. Omega also had its own debts of 10 billion rubles.”

Losses of NAO Krasnaya Polyana, which owns large hotels in Gorki Gorod, low-rise townhouses and chalets, amounted to 22 billion rubles in 2014. Operators overestimated demand for hotel services in total - revenue was 70% below plan. Anfinogenov’s experience in crisis management came in handy again: in October 2015, he became commercial director of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. According to him, the operating loss was smaller - about 8 billion rubles (the amount of 22 billion included the construction part, for example, the Olympic ski jumps on the balance sheet of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug) and the task was to optimize the budget. “In 2015, NAO earned 4 billion rubles, half of which was provided by the hotel fund,” says Anfinogenov. “Taking into account our strong competitor, Rosa Khutor, this figure is very decent.” In 2016, Krasnaya Polyana’s loss dropped to 1.5 billion rubles, according to Spark-Interfax. By this time, Sberbank had finally found a buyer for the Gorki Gorod resort - the Resort Plus company.

Competition for the zone

In August 2016, Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the creation of the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone in Sochi. In September, the organizer of exhibitions and conferences Smile Expo announced the holding of the Russian Gaming Week Sochi conference. There was no doubt that the event would generate interest in the market. Large bookmakers like Bingo Boom really wanted to get to Krasnaya Polyana. “Among all the gambling zones, it was of maximum interest due to its location and infrastructure, incomparable to the Rostov field or the coastal steppe,” says one of the players in this market.

“Among all the gambling zones, Krasnaya Polyana was of maximum interest due to its location and infrastructure, incomparable to the Rostov field or the coastal steppe”

In the fall of 2016, the name of the first and so far only resident became known - Domain LLC, registered in December 2015 and owned by Singapore-based Silverron International Pte. Other players in the gambling market learned after the fact that the license was awarded to a young foreign company through a competition. “There were no trades,” says Maxim Smolentsev. And all further requests from Shambhala, which wanted to enter the Krasnaya Polyana zone, remained unanswered. According to Dmitry Anfinogenov, who later moved to Domain, the auctions organized by NAO were public, two companies participated in them, including a certain Royal. According to Spark-Interfax, 90% of it belongs to the same Singaporean company, another 10% belongs to Mikhail Danilov, co-owner of Star Beta, Bingo Boom and resident companies of other gambling zones. The general director of Domain LLC is a man also named Mikhail Danilov, but, according to Spark-Interfax, he and the shareholder Royal have different middle names. Forbes' interlocutor knows Danilov as a partner of Rashid Taimasov, co-founder and former CEO of the Kazan Royal Time Group. In July 2018, Taimasov was declared bankrupt.

A former media center with an area of 33,000 square meters was allocated for Casino Sochi. m, built for the Olympics and successfully connected by a gallery to the Marriott hotel. The renovation of the building was completed in less than six months; the American bureau Steelman Partners was hired, which designed facilities in Las Vegas and Macau. At the same time, Anfinogenov moved to Domain. The management included many foreigners with impressive experience in foreign casinos - from New Zealand, Austria, part of the team was invited from gambling establishments in Vladivostok, where the casinos are comparable in size to the Sochi one. Investments in the project amounted to 4 billion rubles. For comparison: two residents of the Azov-City zone invested 8 billion rubles in three casinos, two hotels, and several concert halls built from scratch. Maxim Smolentsev admits: “The casino is very beautiful, the work of designers from the States is visible, but the investments are still somewhat overpriced.”

The long-awaited casino

Casino Sochi opened for visitors on New Year's Eve. “At the end of December, Arkady Novikov was still walking on cellophane here,” Anfinogenov smiles. The Moscow restaurateur was invited to evaluate two new concepts - Brunello and Buffet establishments. At the beginning of February 2017, Casino Sochi received a special audience - officials and billionaires. The excursion, dedicated to the Sochi Investment Forum, through the halls and VIP rooms was personally conducted by Tkachev, says one of the guests of that evening. They didn’t play roulette or cards, but there was a concert of the group “Bi-2”.

Anfinogenov is pleased with the first year of operation of Casino Sochi; not a single gambling establishment discloses financial indicators. The casino even has the unofficial status of a city-forming enterprise, employing about 1,000 people in 250 professions. “We are, of course, not a hydroelectric power station or a metallurgical plant, but we are comparable in terms of the tax base,” emphasizes the top manager. Tax deductions from Casino Sochi for the first year of operation amounted to 507 million rubles (taxes on a gambling establishment are calculated based on the number of tables and machines).

The success of the new gambling zone near Sochi is obvious: based on the results of 2017 total number There were 340,000 visitors to the casino alone. This figure catches up with Azov City with three casinos, where the annual traffic was 466,000. And already in January 2018, according to Anfinogenov, Sochi overtook Azov City. Guests come to Casino Sochi from more than 120 countries, most of all Russians, citizens of Israel, Turkey and the countries of the former USSR.

So far, it is difficult for the Gorki Gorod resort to compete in terms of promotion with the neighboring Rosa Khutor, especially in winter. “They have 100 km of ski slopes, we have only 30 km,” notes Anfinogenov. At the same time, it is Casino Sochi that guarantees a stable flow of tourists, regardless of the season. “Adding a casino to the wide range of leisure options already offered helps mitigate seasonality in the mountain cluster, especially in spring and autumn,” confirms Tatiana Weller, head of the hotel business department at JLL. Professional operators, especially high-end hotels, have been eagerly awaiting the casino's opening, she says. This had a positive impact on hotel occupancy and revenue.

Anfinogenov sees great potential for the development of a new gambling zone. The first slot machine hall “Bonus” operates in Gorki Gorod. By the end of 2018, Domain will open a third entertainment venue in Rosa Khutor - the Boomerang casino with a restaurant, karaoke, and nightclub. Investments in the project have not yet been disclosed. “There is no need to invent anything new,” Anfinogenov is confident of success. “We need to take the successful experience of our colleagues and competently adapt it to our country.”

For those whose passion is sports, and passion is their nature, the desire to win and win should be the second “I”. Such character traits can be realized only in one place - in the casino. Where can you legally play in a casino in Russia today?

The conditions for the existence of gambling establishments in the Russian Federation are determined by legislation, which states that special territories must be allocated for their location. Where are the official gaming zones in Russia? What is their history and prospects?

Special administrative-territorial object

The gaming zone in Russia is a special administrative-territorial facility intended for organizing and conducting various gambling games.

Since July 2009, any gambling activity outside such zones has been prohibited by law in Russia. The exceptions are bookmakers, sweepstakes and lotteries. The law regulates the processes of organization and liquidation of such objects, their name and definition of boundaries.

Gambling zones, in accordance with the law, can only be located outside populated areas. The construction of permanent settlements should not be planned on their territory.

Where are play zones in Russia predetermined by law to be located?

For the organization of such territories, the government allocated four sites. Some of them already have operating gaming complexes; on others, the organization of a casino zone is under consideration and discussion.

Operating facilities

"Azov City". One of the first active gambling zones. Located in the Krasnodar region. Initially, it was planned to locate the zone on the border between the Krasnodar Territory and the neighboring Rostov Region. Subsequently, the liquidation of the Rostov part of the zone was undertaken. Today Azov City is the largest of the four gambling zones in the Russian Federation.
Gambling zone " Siberian coin». Its location is Altai Territory. In the first open casino complex, Altai Palace, several gaming rooms have been operating since December 2015, in addition, work is underway in the hotel and some other parts of the complex. According to official data, in 2015, about 17 thousand people became visitors to the gambling zone.

Development plans are being discussed: "Yantarnaya"

“Yantarnaya” is a gaming zone in Russia, the development plan of which is under discussion in the government. Located in the Kaliningrad region. For a long time, despite the active investment of funds in the project, the development of the gaming area, according to estimates, was not effective enough. In April 2014, its territory was increased by almost 1 km. The governor of the Kaliningrad region made a proposal to discuss the concept of a gambling zone. It is believed that Yantarnaya should develop as a special company without focusing on the gambling business. An example is the popular German resort town of Baden-Baden.

Under consideration

In April 2014, information appeared in the media that, according to a bill introduced by President Vladimir Putin, free gaming zones in Russia could be created on the Crimean peninsula, which is de facto part of the Russian Federation. Reportedly, a search for a place for their optimal placement is now underway. The most likely option is the southern coast of Crimea.

The issue of creating a gambling zone in Crimea was raised even during the time of control of the peninsula by Ukraine. In March 2014, after it became part of Russia, the government again began to consider the issue of creating a special economic zone on the territory of the peninsula. Initially, the initiative was subjected to serious criticism from the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, but it received support. O. Prime Minister of Crimea.

Options offered

"Golden Sands". A large resort complex in the suburbs of Anapa, including a gambling zone. It was initially proposed as a replacement for the Azov City facility, which was assessed as less promising.
A play zone was also planned in Sochi. In Russia, as noted by President V. Putin, the city has an image family resort, so at first the creation of a gambling zone in it was considered inappropriate. A number of media outlets published a proposal by Prime Minister D. Medvedev to begin construction of a gambling zone on the territory of Sochi after the Winter Olympic Games. The information was soon refuted. Later, the Prime Minister and a number of other experts and officials this idea was criticized. Various publications have expressed the idea that the “Sochi play zone” project in Russia cannot be implemented in the near future. But in 2014, the government returned to consider this issue.
Gambling zone in Buryatia. The creation of a gambling complex in this territory was proposed by members of the Public Chamber of the Republic. The idea began to be considered back in 2008 to include Buryatia in the “Russian play zones” project. It turned out to be quite problematic to locate a casino on its territory even then. The idea was protested by various activists, with members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation especially actively criticizing it.
"Primorye". The complex was to be designed and built in a resort area on the shore of Muravyina Bay (Cape Cherepakha. The distance to the airport here is 23 km, to Vladivostok (the capital of the region) - 70 km. The total area of the gambling zone is about 620 hectares. According to the project, “gaming zones of Russia ", the casino in Primorye was to be located in four establishments, each containing 10 VIP, 20 poker and 45 gambling tables, as well as 1000 slot machines. In addition, it is planned to build three hotels with a capacity of 600 rooms, which corresponds to modern standards of popular online casino. Shopping and entertainment centers, bars and restaurants, conference and banquet halls, beauty salons and spas, sports and entertainment and public and business complexes. The project envisages the creation of a hippodrome, golf courses and a ski resort. Currently, the construction of the Primorye play area is in the project development stage.

"Azov City": location

One of the first operating domestic gambling zones, which Russians rightly call “our Las Vegas.” Located on the coast of the Azov Sea in the Krasnodar Territory. Nearest big city, located 50 kilometers from the gambling complex, is Yeysk (resort town). Within a radius of 200 kilometers from the zone are Azov, Krasnodar, Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don.

The gambling zone was initially located on the border between the Krasnodar Territory and the neighboring Rostov Region; over time, the Rostov part of the complex was liquidated.

“Azov City” is located between two settlements: the village of Port Katon and the village of Molchanovka. The area of the territory is about 1000 hectares. The complex is equipped with the necessary engineering infrastructure, communications and access roads.

Casino

One of the largest casinos in Russia is the Oracle establishment located on the territory of Azov City, the area of which is about 4000 sq.m. Its owner is Rashid Taimasov.

The assets of M. Smolentsev’s company are also located in Azov City: the Shambhala casino (the area is about 1400 sq. m), a hotel and Nirvana - the newest domestic casino with an area of 1400 sq. m. m.

The Oracle casino was built by the Royal Time company (Kazan). The first stage of the facility for customers was opened in January 2010. In September 2010, the second stage of the Oracle casino was launched. After this, the area of the complex amounted to more than 4 thousand square meters. m. For gambling lovers, there is a hall for VIP guests (casino hall 7 (5 gaming tables), VIP hall (3 gaming tables). In addition, there are apartments for conducting tete-a-tete games "Incognito". The casino has five tables for tournament poker, a premium hotel (11 rooms), a slot hall with a stage (the total number of slot machines is 300 units).The company has invested about 400 million rubles in the construction of the Oracle.

The Shambhala casino began operating in Azov City in October 2010. Its owner is Park City LLC. The total area of the complex is approximately 1.5 thousand square meters. m. About 175 million rubles were invested in the project. The gambling establishment "Shambhala" is located 100 meters from the "Oracle". The casino is equipped with 12 gambling tables, 130 slot machines, and a poker room for sports poker competitions. Shambhala also has several VIP rooms for private games and a concert venue.

The owner of the third casino, Nirvana, is Shambhala CJSC. The establishment opened in October 2013. The volume of investment in this project is about 200 million rubles.

According to the new law

In November 2010, the government adopted a law according to which the Rostov region was excluded from the list of regions allowed to host gambling zones. The law also predetermined that the Rostov part of the southern playing area would be moved to a new location: to the Blagoveshchenskaya Spit area.

In March 2012, the government approved changing the boundaries of the Azov City gambling complex. It was joined by 800 hectares of land nearby (45 km from Anapa).

The right to receive a lease of land with an area of 240 hectares for the implementation of a gambling investment project for a period of 20 years was received by the company Adaptas (Rus) LLC.

Plans

In 2016, it was planned to open the first facility in the Anapa resort area on the territory of a gambling complex - a five-star hotel with a casino. The cost of this project is estimated at 11 billion rubles. In general, the company’s plans included the construction of five hotels with a casino and a golf park in the gambling zone. The volume of investment in this project is more than 16 billion rubles.

It was planned that the area of Azov City would be approximately 20.02 million square meters. m (about 2 thousand hectares). Half of the territory (1000 hectares) was to be located in the Rostov region, the second half - in the Krasnodar region.

The gaming area provided for the placement of numerous slot machine halls, casino establishments, betting offices, bookmakers, online casino halls, and various resort, cultural and sports complexes. A varied selection of gambling games was planned, not inferior to the list of Europa Casino. It was planned to create transport hubs and interchanges: an airport, a bus station, train stations, as well as the construction of other necessary facilities for infrastructure development.

Rumors of closure

In 2015, information appeared in the media that one of the two active domestic play areas- “Azov City” (Krasnodar region). The state undertakes to pay compensation to investors - approximately 10 billion rubles.

The liquidation of the zone is necessary in connection with amendments to the federal law “On Gambling Activities” (July 27, 2014). On the one hand, these amendments expanded the list of regions that have the right to host a gambling business on their territory. Previously, the list included the Krasnodar Territory, Altai, Primorye and the Kaliningrad Region. Now Crimea has been added to them. On the other hand, it was stipulated that in Kuban the placement of gambling zones is limited exclusively to areas allocated for the construction of federal Olympic facilities.

What is planned to replace the liquidated facility?

As the media learned, instead of Azov City (Krasnodar Territory), a new gambling complex will be built in the area where the Sochi Olympic venues are located.

In Sochi, it is planned to locate a gambling zone at the Gorki-Gorod resorts (owned by Sberbank) and Rosa Khutor. In December 2014, Sberbank reported that Krasnaya Polyana was being placed at the disposal of the Krasnodar company Omega Center, which is one of the builders of Olympic venues, in exchange for the construction of an Olympic media center. Having become the property of the region, Krasnaya Polyana will be deprived of the right to conduct a gambling business, and, most likely, its premises will be rented out. It is assumed that Azov City is being liquidated in the interests of this tenant, who is not yet known to anyone.

Current state of affairs

As of May-June 2016, all casinos continue to operate successfully in the gambling zone. Today in Azov City everyone can choose a game according to their character and temperament. This includes American roulette, recognized as the queen of gambling, and Black Jack, and various types of poker, and numerous slot machines, as well as many mind games: chess, backgammon, checkers. In the gambling zone, various promotions and drawings are held almost daily valuable prizes, including massive jackpots and luxury cars.

The casino regularly hosts show programs in which pop stars, famous entertainers, and striptease shows take part. The public is offered circus acts and numerous surprises.

How to get there?

The Azov City gambling zone is located in the Krasnodar Territory on the border of two districts - Yeisk and Shcherbinovsky. The distance from Yeysk to Azov City is 70 km. You can get here by free bus, it will take 40-50 minutes. You can also get there by your own car or order a transfer.

If you go to “Azov-City” from another city, then you should, before reaching about 30 km from Yeysk, in the village of Staroshcherbinovskaya at the roundabout, turn right and then follow the signs.

Daily free buses to Azov City run according to the schedule:

from Yeisk (shopping center "Meotida"): departure time - 19:30;
from Rostov-on-Don (Rostov Main railway station): departure time - 19:00;
from Krasnodar (Shopping Center "Red Square"): departure time on weekdays - 19:00; on Saturday and Sunday - 18:00.

Where can I stay?

Those interested can choose to stay in a VIP hotel located on the territory of the gambling complex. It is also suggested to book a private house, apartment, hotel room in Yeisk through the agency "Eysk-Leto.ru".

In perspective

The number of playing public in Russia and nearby countries today is significant, so Azov City casinos do not lack customers. In this regard, it can be assumed that the functioning gaming complex will continue for some time.

However, it is known that Azov City will be closed in the near future. Residents have already placed bets on liquidation.

The Ministry of Finance is studying the possibility of simultaneous liquidation of Azov City and the start of a new zone in Sochi.

Introduction

Among the economic levers with which the state influences the market economy, taxes play an important role. In a market economy, any state widely uses tax policy as a certain regulator of the impact on negative market phenomena. Taxes, like the entire tax system, are powerful tool economic management in market conditions.

The gambling business is one of the most profitable activities in the recreation and entertainment infrastructure in the world, and the history of gambling goes back far into the past of mankind. In modern Russia, the gambling business is rapidly gaining momentum, forming the new kind activities, and with it a range of problems that need to be solved. Therefore, questions regarding accounting and taxation of gambling establishments are especially relevant.

Currently, such relationships are associated with the payment by industry enterprises of three types of payments: license fees, gambling tax, property tax, and tax on income associated with winnings of individuals. It is important that the contribution of the gaming business to the overall tax treasury is steadily growing.

The purpose of this work is to reveal the basic concepts of the gambling business, to identify objects of taxation, the tax base, the procedure and terms for calculating and paying taxes, and to study the gaming business in modern Russia.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to study the following tasks:

1. Gaming business in modern Russia;

2. Tax period, tax rates;

3. The procedure for calculating and paying tax on the gambling business, deadlines;

4. Tax return.

Gambling business in modern Russia

Gambling business is an entrepreneurial activity that is not the sale of products (goods, works, services), associated with the extraction by a gambling establishment of income from participation in gambling and betting in the form of winnings and fees for their conduct.

Gambling is a risk-based agreement to win, concluded by two or more participants in such an agreement between themselves or with the organizer of the gambling game according to the rules established by the organizer of the gambling game.

A bet is a game of chance in which the outcome of a risk-based agreement to win, concluded by two or more bettors among themselves or with the organizer of this type of gambling, depends on an event for which it is unknown whether it will occur or not.

Since July 1, 2009, gambling in Russia has been permitted only in four special economic zones, called gambling zones. However, both before and after this, the Russian gambling business found ways to operate outside the zones - from moving its establishments abroad to directly violating the law within Russia.

According to the results of an audit by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, in 2007-2010, 1.4 billion budget rubles were spent on the development of gambling zones (of which 97% in Azov City); 98.7 million rubles were returned to the state in the form of taxes. The development of gambling zones is slow - investors are afraid to invest, potential clients prefer to play outside of Russia, laws are unable to regulate the gambling sector. According to critics, the reason is that gambling zones became a populist government project in 2006, and economic efficiency was sacrificed for the speed of its implementation.

This ban came into effect due to the problem of gambling addiction. At the beginning of 2006, in Moscow alone there were 56 casinos and 5 thousand gambling halls. In total, there were 65 thousand slot machines in the capital.

According to federal law Russia No. 244-FZ of December 29, 2006 “On state regulation of activities related to the organization and conduct of gambling and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation”, from July 1, 2009, gambling establishments in Russia were allowed to operate only in four specially designated for this purpose places (so-called gambling zones):

· "Primorye" - in the resort area of the Ussuri Bay (Primorsky Territory);

· "Siberian coin" - in the Altai region Altai Territory;

· "Yantarnaya" - in the vicinity of the village of Yantarny, Kaliningrad region;

· "Azov City" - on the territory of the Shcherbinovsky district of the Krasnodar Territory and the Azov district of the Rostov region.

Throughout the rest of Russia, gambling establishments were banned. More than thirty regions of the country (including Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Kurgan, Omsk, Chelyabinsk regions, Krasnoyarsk region, Tatarstan, and a number of regions of the North Caucasus) introduced bans on gambling establishments on their territory even before the federal law came into force.

As a result of such changes, on July 23, 2011, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses were supplemented with articles, respectively, 171.2 and 14.1.1 with the same name " Illegal organization and conducting gambling":

· criminal liability for the use of gambling equipment outside the gambling zone, for the use of the Internet and communications to organize gambling, for running a gambling business within the gambling zone without permission - from a fine of 500 thousand rubles to imprisonment for up to 3 years, and for the same acts in particular large size- respectively, up to 1 million rubles and up to 6 years;

· administrative responsibility for the gambling business outside the gambling zone, including through communication equipment and the Internet - fines for citizens in the amount of 3-5 thousand rubles, for officials 30-50 thousand rubles, for legal entities 700 thousand - 1 million rubles;

· administrative liability for gambling within a gambling zone without permission - fines for citizens in the amount of 2-4 thousand rubles, for officials 30-50 thousand rubles, for legal entities in the amount of 500-800 thousand rubles;

· administrative liability for gambling business within a gambling zone in violation of the rules - a fine for legal entities in the amount of 300-500 thousand rubles.

According to a survey conducted in June 2009 by the marketing company Profi Online Research among residents of cities with a population of over a million, 72% of respondents welcomed the closure of gambling establishments, and 19% were against; 7% of respondents were indifferent to this, and 2% did not know about their closure.

In October 2006, the president of the Unicum Group of Companies, Boris Belotserkovsky, argued that the gambling business gives the country 30 billion rubles. taxes (of which 10 billion rubles - Moscow), and at the end of 2005, the annual market turnover exceeded $1 billion, tax deductions - $100 million.

For 2008, the turnover of the gambling business in Russia was estimated by PriceWaterhouseCoopers at $3.6 billion. According to the economic observer of RIA Novosti Vlad Grinkevich, the turnover of Russian gambling enterprises in 2008 was $5.9-6 billion. According to the Chairman of the Committee on Economic politics and entrepreneurship of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Evgeniy Fedorov, in 2008 the Russian budget received 24 billion rubles from gambling activities.

Thus, we can draw conclusions that despite the fact that the gambling business in Russia was banned, it still continues to exist and develop. Since tax contributions decreased by only 6 billion rubles. (-20%).