The law will take effect ten days after its publication in the official gazette, and authorities expect the initiative to help develop the region and create new jobs, according to TASS.
They also anticipate an increase in tax revenues at a time when state budgets face a severe deficit due to the ongoing military campaign against Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
At the beginning of 2026, Russia’s Ministry of Finance proposed that Putin legalize online casinos, which would pay a 30% tax on revenues—potentially generating annual income of 100 billion rubles ($1.3 billion).
Currently, online casinos are banned in Russia, but illegal betting houses are estimated to rake in around $2 billion per month.
Russia enforces strict gambling laws, allowing casinos only in five designated zones: Kaliningrad, Altai, Primorye, Krasnodar, and the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014.
These measures were introduced in 2009 and promoted by Putin himself, who has long expressed hostility toward gambling, even comparing gambling addiction to alcoholism.
