Russia’s plan to impose new 10% online sports betting tax has bookies spooked

Russia’s bookmakers are blinking back disbelief after their government proposed yet another tax on their online activities.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Finance published a notice of its plans to amend federal law via the imposition of a 10% tax on online betting sales, effective December 2016. Public comment on the proposal is being solicited until May 5.

The 10% tax is on top of the recently announced RUB 2.5m to 3m (US $36,600 to $43,900) fees Russian bookies must pay each of the country’s 12 economic regions in order to accept online wagers from punters in those regions. Bookies have also recently been ordered to pay RUB 60m ($890k) per year to Russian sports federations.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Russian bookmakers have expressed some confusion over what portion of their business will face the new 10% tax. The Ministry’s notice states that the tax applies to ‘sales,’ which most observers are reading as ‘revenue,’ but the actual bill has yet to be published and some bookmakers have suggested the tax will apply to online betting turnover.