Russia’s Communist Party pushes higher gambling taxes as State Duma committee rejects two iGaming ad-fines bills

Russia’s Communist Party has called for a sharp increase in the tax burden on the gambling business, while a State Duma committee recommended rejecting two separate bills that would have raised fines for gambling advertising. For operators and PSPs, the signal is the same: tax pressure is still on the table, but the legislative machinery is not moving cleanly or consistently.

1. Gennady Zyuganov, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), proposed a substantial increase in taxes on the gambling business in a statement on the draft federal budget for 2027–2029 published on the party’s website.The same statement also backed higher excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco, as well as legalization of the shadow sector. Zyuganov said the party’s proposals could bring the budget at least ₽10 trillion, but the statement did not specify the tax parameters for gambling.
2. This is not KPRF’s first move in 2026. In March, the party reintroduced a bill to ban online betting and gambling advertising and raise the legal gambling age to 21. The first reading, scheduled for June, did not take place.In April, KPRF proposed a minimum targeted contribution for bookmakers of ₽50 million per quarter and a 10% rate on revenue from 2028. The government issued a negative opinion.In June, deputies floated a 50% tax on excess profits for bookmakers, banks, microfinance organizations, and pawnshops. That draft was sent to the government for review.
3. Meanwhile, the State Duma Committee on Criminal and Administrative Legislation recommended rejecting two bills on gambling advertising.The first, introduced in November 2025 by LDPR deputies led by Leonid Slutsky, would have created a separate Administrative Offenses Code provision for violations of bookmaker ad rules and increased maximum fines: from ₽2,500 to ₽5,000 for individuals, from ₽20,000 to ₽100,000 for officials, and from ₽500,000 to ₽800,000 for companies. It also allowed suspension of a company’s activity for up to 90 days.The committee said the tougher penalties were unjustified because the authors had not shown that current fines were ineffective. It also noted that the draft assigned protocol-drafting powers to Roskomnadzor, even though advertising supervision belongs to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), and found a technical error in the text.
4. The second bill, introduced by United Russia deputies, targeted covert promotion of illegal gambling through gaming info sites, affiliate networks, film sites, bloggers, links in pinned comments, and streams with winnings.It proposed fines of up to ₽50,000 for individuals, ₽200,000 for officials, and ₽1 million for companies, with repeat offenses punished by up to ₽500,000, ₽1.5 million, and ₽7 million respectively.The committee said the draft conflicted with a parallel bill banning the spread of information about illegal gambling, because the punishable conduct did not match the prohibited conduct.
5. Both bills were also not supported by the government, the Supreme Court, and two committees of the Federation Council. In other words, the anti-advertising crackdown has plenty of political motion, but the drafting still looks messy enough to trip over its own shoelaces.