(AsiaGameHub) – By: Raymond Vance
The Ministry of Finance wants a 30% tax on online operators. This is a desperate fiscal pivot. The current gambling zone model is a disaster. Treasury revenues have collapsed. The state is bleeding money to illegal operators. Dmitry Slobodkin, a former industry chief, calls the zone model a failure. He notes the loss of colossal budget sums.
Officially, the government hopes for hundreds of millions in new revenue. But look at the history. In 2005, the state earned 305 billion rubles. That is currently worth $4.2 billion. Today, that number is under $21 million. The tax rate doubled. Yet revenue vanished. The designated zones are empty. Nobody visits them. Underground dens operate everywhere. The public still wagers.
The illegal market is huge. Slobodkin says it is impossible to estimate. It outpaces legal land-based alternatives. The Kremlin is doubling down on zones anyway. They approved a Sberbank project in Siberia. This ignores the root problem. Prohibition creates desire. The money is already fleeing the budget. Critics fear addiction. Lawmakers want to ban ads.
If Moscow keeps ignoring the math, the budget gap will widen. They cannot tax what they pretend does not exist. The fiscal health of the state depends on acknowledging the black market. Continued denial will only deepen the revenue crisis.
Author bio: Raymond Vance, a senior macro-economist and consultant to central banking policy research working groups.