Casino attendance at Russia’s official gambling zones rose 7.1 per cent in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. According to data from the Association of Operators of the Entertainment and Event Tourism Industry (AIRIS), more than one million Russian and foreign tourists visited the country’s gambling zones between January and June.
The rise in visitor numbers coincided with an expansion of the gambling zone network itself: authorities approved the creation of two new venues, one of which is being developed with the backing of the country’s largest bank, Sberbank. The Kremlin is also considering a parallel approach for the industry: earlier this year, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov proposed lifting the ban on online casinos, in place since 2009, as an additional source of budget revenue.
The most-visited venues
According to Vedomosti, Russia’s leading business publication, the country’s most-visited complex is Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi: Casino Sochi and Bumerang together received more than 466,000 guests in the first half of the year, a 6 per cent increase. Second place goes to Casino Sobranie in the Kaliningrad region, which recorded a standout 30 per cent jump on its 2025 figures. Rounding out the top three is Casino Shambala in Primorye, also up 6 per cent: just a few years ago, it was still preparing to open, and today it ranks among the most-visited venues in the country.
“In these hard times for the tourism industry, gambling zones remain reliable anchor points. They create a stable flow of visitors to Russia’s regions and support local economic development”
Dmitry Anfinogenov, Executive Director, AIRIS
Asian markets fuel growth
The Far East is contributing most to the overall momentum. According to Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, tourist arrivals to those regions rose 91 per cent in the first four months of 2026, an effect of visa-free agreements with China. The Primorye zone, closest to Vladivostok, welcomed 856,500 visitors in 2025, up 12 per cent on the previous year, with tourist flows from China and other Asia-Pacific countries growing 9 per cent. Russian authorities estimate that around 6.5 million foreign tourists will arrive in the country by the end of 2026, with China, India and Southeast Asia among the target markets.
What the data shows
According to Blask data as of 20 July 2026, Russia ranks fifth in the world by competitive earnings benchmark (CEB), at $9.54bn across 185 tracked brands.
The structure of player interest, however, differs from what investment in casino infrastructure might suggest: Blask survey data show that 89 per cent of users engage with traditional sports betting products, while only 9 per cent use casinos. In other words, the state and business expansion into land-based venues is occurring in a segment that, in terms of audience size, remains considerably smaller than sports betting.
The Altai bet
The defining symbol of the current expansion wave is the new zone in the Altai Republic, a project backed by Sberbank CEO German Gref. The complex will be located at the Manzherok ski resort, which the bank also owns. Political analyst Andrei Kuznetsov described the decision to establish the zone as evidence of significant lobbying influence from Gref and Altai Governor Andrei Turchak, adding that the new casino would be “on par with Macau”. The bet looks risky given the social context: the Altai Republic is one of Russia’s poorest regions, with 13.8 per cent of its population living below the poverty line. There is a more direct warning sign as well: the neighbouring, already operational Sibirskaya Moneta zone recorded a near-5 per cent drop in net profit, prompting doubts about the economics of the adjacent new project.
Crimea is still waiting
Not all announced zones are proceeding as planned. The gambling zone in Yalta was formally established in 2014 and its boundaries defined in 2019, but the project has never launched. Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014 and considered occupied Ukrainian territory under UN General Assembly resolutions, remains a zone of elevated investment risk: its status deters both foreign and some domestic investors, pushing capital toward more predictable projects such as those in Kaliningrad and the Far East.
The zonal model under scrutiny
There is no consensus within the industry on whether confining casinos to remote designated zones, rather than to major cities, is a viable model. Critics advocate allowing casinos to operate in any large city, while some industry representatives have called for a gambling zone near Moscow. A similar debate surrounds the proposal to legalise online casinos: the Finance Ministry estimates that Russia’s legal betting market reached 1.7tn roubles ($22.2bn) in 2024, while illegal online gambling is estimated at 3tn roubles ($39.1bn). If the proposal is approved, online casinos would be taxed at 30 per cent of gross revenue, with the ministry calculating that legalisation could generate around $1.2bn to $1.3bn per year for the state.
The proposal has already met resistance, and not only on economic grounds. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) spoke out against the Finance Ministry’s plans, warning that legalisation could undermine “traditional values” and worsen gambling addiction. Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy Head of the ROC’s Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, wrote on his Telegram channel: “Understandably, any finance ministry in any country looks for new sources of budget revenue. But in the case of the 100bn in question, this money will effectively be taken from Russian families that already have, or will develop as a result of this questionable measure, gambling addicts”. He added that legalisation would worsen the country’s demographic situation, which has become particularly acute in recent years.
Finance Minister Siluanov’s proposal remains under presidential consideration, with no official decision yet. The expansion of the land-based gambling zone network, unlike the debate over the online segment, is proceeding without public obstacles and, judging by attendance figures, is already delivering measurable results.
This article was first published on the Russian SiGMA News page on 20 July 2026.
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