The secret will stop: hidden gambling advertising will be banned in Russia

Gambling advertising is prohibited in Russia, but the organizers of such a business have already found a loophole in the legislation. Bloggers and famous people simply demonstrate successful gambling at illegal online casinos on streams, attracting a whole new audience, and links leading to gaming sites are actively posted in comments on social networks. It is proposed to recognize such actions as illegal advertising and ban them in the draft law of United Russia deputies. The package also introduces penalties for advertising illegal gambling — fines will reach 7 million rubles. However, the lawyers interviewed note that other measures are needed, such as improving the mechanisms for blocking websites with illegal casinos and their mirrors.

How gambling continues to be advertised in Russia

In Russia, it is prohibited to advertise gambling on the Internet, but the norm does not work in full force — in fact, information about online casinos in social networks and demonstration public actions that are designed to attract an audience to illegal gambling organizers remained allowed. This is stated in the explanatory note to the draft law of the United Russia group of deputies. Its authors were Artyom Metelev, Alexander Tolmachev, Irina Pankina, Artyom Kiryanov and Yulia Drozhzhina.

They propose to prohibit any information about gambling organizers, gambling itself, and lotteries that violate the requirements of these federal laws. The bill is due to be submitted to the State Duma on Wednesday, October 8.

Currently, gambling advertising is strictly limited by Article 27 of the law "On Advertising," Sofya Lukinova, head of the legal department of VMT Consult, explained to Izvestia. It is allowed only to inform in specially designated gambling areas and in compliance with mandatory requirements: warnings about the risk, prohibition of targeting minors, indication of the organizer and the availability of a license.

"Any advertising outside of this framework, especially on the Internet, is considered a violation," the expert pointed out. — In addition, the Administrative Code already provides for fines for organizers, website owners and hosting providers for distributing such information, but there is still no liability for individuals, for example, bloggers or streamers promoting the casino "on friendship" or for a share of the winnings.

The practice of successful singers and bloggers being involved in illegal gambling is becoming more widespread, the authors of the bill note.

"The actions of such individuals are often not possible to qualify as advertising," they explain. "For example, when such individuals post referral links in a pinned comment under a video or demonstrate a successful game in illegal online casinos on streams, allegedly showing multimillion-dollar winnings, such actions are not advertising."

At the same time, modern technologies on the Internet have led to the massive spread of gambling, the document says.

As previously estimated by Izvestia, Russian streamers and bloggers earn up to 30 billion rubles a year from advertising illegal casinos. And the payment for one broadcast reaches $ 3 million. The annual turnover of the illegal gambling industry is estimated from 1.2 to 4 trillion rubles, and revenue is at least 400 billion. Streamers and bloggers are attracted to advertising in order to attract the attention of young people, because almost half of the players in Russia are under 30 years old. Their passion often turns into ludomania and leads to tragedies — the latest case in Ulyanovsk caused a resonance, where the head of the family, who lost 500 thousand, killed his wife and two young children.

How illegal casinos attract people

According to the Unified Gambling Regulator, 147 thousand resources out of 12 million illegal gambling sites have been blocked in three years. The number of such sites is increasing faster than they can be blocked.

"At the same time, one of the main problems in this area is a well—developed system for attracting new players," the authors of the bill note.

For example, illegal casinos use licenses issued in offshore zones, which allows them to legalize their activities outside of Russia and work online. The organizers actively use affiliate programs and networks, offering them up to 50% of the revenue from attracted clients. In addition, an affiliate system is used — when a partner promotes casino products or services in exchange for commissions from sales and subscriptions.

The document also provides an assessment of the "Association of Bloggers and Agencies" and the "Safe Internet League". According to her, famous personalities who conduct online broadcasts on streaming platforms earn up to 300 million rubles a year.

"The most striking example is the blogger Melstroy. In 2023, he announced that he receives about 1.5 million rubles from gambling organizers for one broadcast," the explanatory note says. "In 2024, thanks to the participation of a famous performer in the broadcast, he attracted more than 700,000 viewers and received a one—time payment of 300 million rubles from an illegal casino."

In addition, the new bill introduces administrative responsibility specifically for the dissemination of information about illegal gambling, which cannot be qualified as advertising. This applies to publications, comments, videos, and other forms of "hidden promotion." Fines of up to 500 thousand rubles are provided for citizens, up to 1.5 million rubles for officials, up to 7 million rubles for legal entities, as well as possible suspension of activities for up to 90 days.

The existing fines of 2,500 rubles for advertising online casinos do not stop anyone, administrative cases are not even initiated, Artem Metelev told Izvestia.

"We are increasing fines hundreds of times to stop the total advertising of online casinos on social networks and block the accounts of bloggers who are still doing this," he said.

A large number of appeals to the authorities and publications in the media on the topic of gambling makes it possible to conclude that the problem is acute for society, including actively affecting minors and youth, one of the authors of the bill, Artyom Kiryanov, told Izvestia. Direct and native gambling advertising is largely placed through leading advertising platforms and is present in search engine results.

"The advertising has covered federal applications, including those with an underage audience, which are initially focused on completely different goals," he said. — On the one hand, sports events are advertised, but the brands of gambling organizers are also clearly displayed there. Special offers for money betting are placed on the landing pages.

What kind of hidden ads can there be

Covert gambling advertising refers to actions aimed at promoting gambling resources that do not formally fall under the definition of advertising, but actually stimulate interest in gambling, Sofya Lukinova explained.

— For example, during a live broadcast, a blogger demonstrates how he wins large sums, or leaves a link to an online casino website disguised as a "referral" or "informational" one, - she said. — Technically, this is not an advertisement, but it actually performs the same function — it attracts new players to illegal gambling organizers.

Most often, these are short videos or streams where a famous person tells how "just for the sake of interest" he visited the site, placed a bet and received an impressive win, lawyer Alexander Ivanin added. Under the video is a "random" link that leads to an illegal resource.

"For the audience, it seems like a personal experience, not a commercial recommendation,— he said. — From the point of view of civil law, this is a manipulation of consumer perception, that is, it creates the illusion that the game is safe and can be a source of income. In fact, a person is exposed to an influence that encourages him to enter into a contractual relationship with an illegal operator who is not protected by Russian law.

But so far, the norms relate mainly to classical advertising — ads, commercials, banners, he added. The sphere of blogging, live broadcasts and referral programs remains in a gray area: formally, such publications are not considered advertising, which means that it is impossible to hold the author accountable.

— The proposed amendment fills this gap, — said Alexander Ivanin. — This is important not only from the point of view of state control, but also the protection of citizens as participants in financial relations. After all, in fact, every click on the link is a potential transaction related to the transfer of money to an offshore organizer that does not have a license in Russia. People are being deprived of all their rights: their deposits are not protected, their winnings cannot be proven, and their complaints cannot be considered in Russian courts.

It is especially dangerous that such schemes are aimed at young people — they have not yet formed financial discipline, and the game is often perceived as a way to get money quickly, the lawyer added. This leads not only to losses, but also to debt problems — with loans, microloans, and addiction.

"Therefore, the fight against hidden advertising is not so much a moral issue as an element of financial security for citizens," he said.

However, experts believe that administrative regulations alone are not enough to effectively counteract this. It is also necessary to improve the mechanisms for blocking websites with illegal casinos and their mirrors, strengthen monitoring of social networks, and introduce mandatory labeling and identification of advertising integrations. In addition, it is necessary to consolidate the personal responsibility of public figures and bloggers who receive income from such publications, they become the key link in involving young people in gambling.

According to trial lawyer Ilya Vasilchuk, in order to combat illegal advertising, it is necessary to introduce more modern technologies for detecting and suppressing such advertising, and only then introduce additional punishment.

According to lawyers, only comprehensive tightening, including legal, technological and educational measures, will reduce the scale of the existing problem.