Are offshore betting sites legal in Russia?

The use of offshore betting sites in Russia exists in a legal gray area, but the Russian government is actively taking steps to curtail it. While there is no specific law that explicitly penalizes individual players for using international crypto casinos, the government's stance is clear: any online gambling operator not licensed in Russia is considered illegal.

The primary enforcement mechanism is the blocking of websites by Roskomnadzor, which maintains a blacklist of unlicensed gambling sites. This means that while a Russian resident might not face direct legal repercussions for playing on an offshore site, their access to that site could be cut off at any moment.

Furthermore, the Russian government is reportedly planning to intensify its efforts to block foreign crypto exchanges and gambling sites, which would make accessing these platforms even more difficult. Therefore, while many Russians do use offshore betting sites, often with the help of VPNs, they do so in a legally uncertain environment where the government is actively working to restrict their access.