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Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law approving the creation of a new gambling zone in the Altai Republic, marking the sixth official gambling territory in Russia and the second in the wider Altai region. The law was officially published on May 2.
The planned zone is expected to be located close to the Manzherok ski resort, which is owned by Sberbank, as authorities seek to link the development with tourism, skiing, outdoor travel, and hospitality activity in the mountainous region. The government expects the venue to generate more than $4 million in annual tax revenue and create over 1,000 jobs once launched.
The decision comes as Russia faces growing fiscal pressure. The Ministry of Finance had initially proposed expanding the country’s gambling sector as a way to help address budget shortfalls, with the federal treasury recording a $74 billion deficit and regional budgets posting deficits totaling $20 billion, the highest level among government budget categories.
The Altai Republic remains one of Russia’s poorest regions, with 13.8% of its population earning below the set subsistence level. Officials expect the new gambling zone to support related business activity, including hotels, restaurants, and tourism operators, particularly as visitor traffic to Russian gambling zones has increased in recent years.
Russia fully prohibited gambling in 2009 after concerns over addiction, organized crime, and social harm linked to casinos operating in major cities. Since then, the government has allowed gambling only through tightly controlled zones, many of them located in remote or resort-style areas intended to attract tourists and foreign visitors. Existing zones include Crimea, Sochi, Krasnodar, Primorye, and Kaliningrad.
The Altai region also has an earlier significance in Russia’s gambling policy. The country’s first officially designated gambling zone was approved there in 2007, although development progressed slowly and the project was not fully operational until 2014.
Simultaneously, Russia weighs a wider online casino reform. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has proposed removing Russia’s ban on iGaming and creating a Unified Betting Accounting Center, with a 30% tax on gambling revenue. The measure is estimated to bring in $1.3 billion in annual tax revenue, or nearly 100 billion rubles.
Under the proposal being discussed, online casino operators would be allowed to operate legally only if they obtain official Russian licenses. The proposed 30% tax would apply to operator profits, while player winnings would not be included in the calculation.
Online casinos have been prohibited in Russia since 2009, but offshore operators have continued to target Russian players through mirror websites and duplicate servers, making enforcement difficult.