- A bill to ban credit card payments for betting had its second reading Tuesday after unanimous passage on the first reading.
- The bill is expected to pass by the end of 2026, according to a publication of the Russian Federal Embassy.
- Under the bill, banks would decline transactions of funds to a gambling operator.
MOSCOW – Russian lawmakers are moving toward passing a ban on credit card payments for betting. After being introduced in Sept. 2024, Bill No. 720112-8 is gaining traction after unanimously passing its first reading and advancing through a second reading on Tuesday.
Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy chairman Andrey Kutepov introduced the bill alongside deputy Alexander Trembitsky. The bill would prohibit sports betting and gambling operators from accepting credit card payments, which will puts responsibility on the card-issuing banks themselves.
Bill authors said that “People addicted to gambling lose control and try to recoup their losses using credit cards and microloans. This increases the financial burden and raises the proportion of insolvent debtors. Therefore, it is proposed to ban credit card betting at bookmakers and betting shops, and to place the responsibility for enforcing this restriction on issuing banks.”
More information on the bill was posted by Parlamentskaya Gazeta, a Russian Federal Embassy publication. One section from their post on Telegram translates to: “People often gamble with borrowed money and get into debt. To stop this, banks will be required to automatically reject the payment of rates by credit card.”
The bill is planned to be adopted by the end of 2026, and the Telegram video states that “the ban will affect both bookmaker websites and betting points.” Betting points in this case is a rough translation for physical betting outlets, so the credit card ban applies both online and in-person.
Credit Card Bill Continues Trend Of Gambling Restriction
Bill No. 720112-8 is not the first bill cracking down on betting in Russia this year. A July law enforced fines on operators that violated self-exclusion rules, and more recently lawmakers introduced bills to alter the tax structure on a player’s total net winnings rather than on wager payouts themselves.
