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- The card will go down: a ban on betting from credit cards will reduce spending on gambling in debt by a third
The card will go down: a ban on betting from credit cards will reduce spending on gambling in debt by a third
The ban on credit card betting, which will take effect in 2026, could reduce Russians' spending on gambling by about a third, experts say. Betting companies will be banned from accepting bets from credit cards, and banks will be required to block such operations, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, told Izvestia. Today, the turnover of legal betting in Russia reaches 1.7 trillion rubles, while about 60% of bets are made on borrowed funds, of which 15-30% are on credit cards. Gambling addicts in the country are increasing by 7-10% every year. What additional measures can be taken can be found in the Izvestia article.
Russia will ban online betting with borrowed money
A ban on online betting from credit cards, borrowed money, corporate accounts and individual entrepreneur accounts will reduce Russians' spending on gambling by about 30%, the experts interviewed told Izvestia.
Public spending on betting due to borrowed money will decrease by 20-30%, independent expert Andrey Barkhota believes. According to him, the effect will be noticeable during the first year and a half. However, then, if the system is not finalized, dependent players may adapt and switch to using other forms of borrowing, he warned.
Alexey Kuzmin, Chairman of the Board of the National Savings Bank JSC, gave a similar estimate — 20-30%. He stressed that the reduction would only be by a third, as players would still be able to use workarounds in the form of transferring funds to other cards, withdrawing cash, and contacting gray lenders for online betting.
Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global, gave a more modest assessment. According to him, Russians' spending on credit money after such a ban will decrease by about 10-15%. With strict controls and accompanying measures, such as restricting advertising and imposing stricter limits, the effect can reach 20%. He clarified that this is not a complete solution to the problem, but only a reduction in the financial burden on the most vulnerable players who are already living on credit.
The bill with amendments to the law on the regulation of gambling was submitted to the State Duma in September 2024 by Senators Andrei Kutepov and Alexander Trembitsky. The document obliges the issuing banks to refuse to conduct transactions with credit cards. In practice, financial organizations should focus on the codes or other transaction identifiers assigned in the payment system, which indicate a transfer in favor of the bookmaker. The document also prohibits placing betting points of bookmakers and MFOs "in close proximity to each other."
The ban on bookmakers and sports betting companies accepting bets from credit cards will come into force next year, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, told Izvestia. In November, the initiative was supported by the government. The Cabinet of Ministers also recommended finalizing the draft law, supplementing it with a ban on accepting bets at the expense of borrowed funds held in the accounts of individual entrepreneurs, as well as on corporate cards.
— The decision will be made — it is unequivocal. The measure may be introduced as early as next year. Gambling addicts in the country are growing exponentially and, by attracting money on credit, they spend it on betting and become debt—dependent," Aksakov explained.
It leads to a large debt burden and other problems, the deputy added.
For clients, violating the ban may result in blocking operations or additional checks, explained Alexey Lossan, an analyst at the financial marketplace Compare. Banks will be guided by the requirements of the regulator, so the reaction to violations on their part will be quite tough, he said.
Izvestia asked Russian banks and the Central Bank to what extent credit institutions are technically ready to introduce the measure.
Most large financial organizations will cope with the innovation: they have successful experience in implementing such measures, for example, the implementation of the ban on anonymous replenishment of accounts in bookmakers through banks effective from July 1, said Oleg Abelev, head of the analytical department of the investment company Rikom-Trust.
The mechanism of operation here may be similar to that used to determine the categories of expenses for which bonus points are awarded in loyalty programs, said Dmitry Dolzhenko, head of consumer lending development at Ingo Bank.
Issuing banks have direct access to information about the type of card and the nature of the funds used, explained Anton Palyulin, lecturer at the Department of Fundamental Legal, Social and Humanitarian Sciences at Synergy University. It is assumed that credit institutions will reject transactions based on the Merchant category code (MCC), which is a four—digit code that defines the type of activity of the seller. Thus, a separate number is assigned to all transfers in favor of bookmakers and sweepstakes.
However, a number of analysts believe that banks are not yet fully prepared for new regulation. To comply with the ban, more accurate identification of the card type, the source of funds, as well as detailed filtering of transactions will be required, said Dmitry Mikhailov, finance and credit expert, chief operating officer of the Cosmovisa fintech company.
"At the same time, it is important to understand that banks will not be able to identify transactions against so—called black bookmakers: illegal operators disguise payments as ordinary purchases or services, which makes control much more difficult and limits the effectiveness of the law," he added.
In his opinion, no lender will be able to track down a double transfer scheme that betting companies can invent or pay with cash withdrawn from the same credit card, said financial advisor and founder Rodin.Capital Alexey Rodin.
— You also need to understand that when applying for a gambling loan, a client can use not only the services of MFIs and banks, but also financial organizations that are engaged in non-targeted lending. The risk here is that, having been refused by a legal creditor, the client will turn to someone who works outside the law," the press service of the MIR SRO commented.
How many gamers are there in Russia
The betting segment has been adding about 40% per year for two years in a row, said Vladimir Chernov from Freedom Finance Global. According to open data from the unified gambling regulator (ERAI), the turnover of legal betting in the Russian Federation in 2024 reached 1.7 trillion rubles. However, the estimates of the illegal are even higher. At the same time, about 60% of bets are made with borrowed money, and 15-30% are made with credit cards, Andrei Barkhota noted.
Gambling addiction is one of the fastest ways to get into debt today. The ban on debt rates is embedded in the need to create a responsible lending and consumption policy in the country, said Oleg Abelev from Rikom-Trust. Ludomania in Russia affects about 10-12% of citizens over the age of 18, so of course the scale of the problem is obvious, added Alexey Rodin from Rodin.Capital.
Bookmakers have about 2 million regular customers, many of whom place bets using borrowed funds, including those received from banks and MFIs. The average annual growth in the number of gamers in the Russian Federation is 7-10%, estimated by Andrey Barkhota.
Finalizing the functionality, testing, updating regulatory models is a solid layer of work that financial organizations have to do, said Ruslan Andreev, an expert at the Polylog Group. As targeted steps, issuing banks should update the rules of front-line monitoring for rejecting transactions, integrate with credit bureaus and refine the interface, Oleg Abelev suggested. According to him, the latter involves sending warning messages to mobile applications and online banks when trying to transfer money to bookmakers' accounts.
In Russia, there are already a number of measures aimed at combating gambling addiction. Since 2021, banks have been prohibited from making payments to illegal organizers of gambling and lotteries, Vladimir Chernov noted. There is also a ludomaniac assistance center (the Stop-Game project from ERAI). In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the introduction of a self-ban on gambling for a year, which will allow citizens to voluntarily restrict their access to betting through Public Services. The Ministry of Health is developing clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of ludomania, which should be adopted by 2027.
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