Russian law changes made in late 2020 lead top operators such as Bwin out of the Russian iGaming market. Prior to those law amendments, bookies were obliged to transfer 5% of their income to sports federations each quarter as targeted payments for the development of professional and youth sports. This amount could not exceed 15 million rubles (approx. $200,000).
Under new law bookmakers had to make targeted deductions not only for bets on Russian events, but also on international ones and in addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the proposal of Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to at least double the targeted allocations from bookmakers.
Those changes led Bwin to leave the market sending a letter to its local clients noting that Bwin agreed with another operator Parimatch “to make leaving the Russian market as comfortable as possible for all customers.” This way Bwin customers will be able to switch to the Parimatch platform and keep their funds.
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