Gambling zones will be compensated for the closure

The Ministry of Finance is developing rules for compensating for the damage that operators of gambling zones may suffer in the event of their closure or reduction. The right to compensation, according to the notice of the Ministry, will be valid for ten years from the date of the creation of the zone. Additional guarantees will help attract investment in gambling zones, market participants admit. But the implementation of the idea of ​​protecting gamers through the possibility of self-restraint can worsen their working conditions.

On March 21, the Ministry of Finance announced the start of the development of amendments to the federal law on the regulation of gambling related to the operation of gambling zones. According to the notice posted on regulation.gov.ru, the ministry proposes to consolidate the procedure for compensating for damage in the event of the closure of gambling zones before the expiration of ten years from the date of creation. The amendments should come into force in March 2024, follows from the notice.

As conceived by the Ministry of Finance, organizers of gambling or other tenants of facilities on the territory of gambling zones will be able to apply for the proposed compensation for real damage.

It is proposed to compensate for the damage, including when changing the boundaries of the gambling zone in the first ten years of its existence.

Legal casinos in Russia can only operate on the territories of gambling zones. Now there are three zones that were created in 2009 – Siberian Coin in the Altai Territory, Primorye in the Primorsky Territory and Yantarnaya in the Kaliningrad Region, as well as Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, founded in August 2016.

The Azov-City gambling zone in the Krasnodar Territory was closed in 2018 after nine and a half years of operation. The closure of Azov-City resulted in the bankruptcy of the resident Royal Time Group, which invested 6 billion rubles in the project, and the management company NAO Development Agency of the Krasnodar Territory (the amount of investments was more than 2 billion rubles).

Dmitry Anfinogenov, Chairman of the Russian Gambling Business Association (which unites all operating gambling zones), reacted positively to the idea of ​​compensation: “Any mechanism in which the state gives guarantees in case its policy changes will be an additional incentive for investors planning to come to gambling zones.” He, however, noted that since the creation of the association in 2021, none of the gambling zones included in it have been closed.

The working conditions of bookmakers may also be affected by another innovation stipulated in the draft, “a mechanism for protecting the rights of individuals who have refused to participate in gambling.”

We are talking about an initiative that has been discussed since 2018: according to it, the organizers of gambling will be prohibited from accepting bets from people who have applied for self-restraint. The Ministry was finalizing the bill, taking into account the emergence of the Unified Gambling Regulator (ERAI; see “Kommersant” dated October 8, 2021), in August 2022, the Ministry of Economy approved the project.

But the dates of entry into force have been postponed more than once, the Ministry of Economy in the last review proposed to set them no earlier than September 1, 2023. Now the Ministry of Finance has notified that it is counting on March 1, 2024. The press service of the ministry said only that the bill is being developed “in the prescribed manner.” ERAI did not respond to a request.

Bookmakers already give their visitors the opportunity to exclude or limit themselves in sports betting, but “it cannot be said that this tool is especially popular among customers,” says Nikolai Oganezov, chairman of the board of the First SRO of bookmakers.

According to him, the organization does not object to the introduction of the mechanism at the official level, “but we need to use our experience so that it does not harm either the business or the players themselves.” Mr. Oganezov noted that it is necessary to regulate the terms after which one can lift the ban on participation in gambling. Also, according to him, the possibility should be implemented to limit the number and amount of bets. “If a player wants to spend less or spend less, then they don’t have to completely remove themselves from games,” he says.

Yuri Litvinenko