Results

Changes in the Russian Gambling Legislation and New Realities on the Betting Market: Results of Russian Gaming Week Conference

The 14th Russian Gaming Week took place at the five-star InterContinental hotel in Moscow on April 27, dedicated to the peculiarities of running a gambling business in the face of new legislative requirements.

In 2021, the specialized event was held in an updated format. The program included:

• a conference attended by 15 speakers, including representatives of legal Russian betting companies and sports federations, experts in the field of law and marketing, heads of SROs, etc.;
• a demo zone, which included companies that supply software for betting and gambling operators, equipment for recognition and identification systems, help in obtaining licenses, provide solutions for financial transactions on the Internet, engaged in scent marketing, etc.;
• a gala dinner, where VIP ticket holders, speakers and event sponsors agreed on further cooperation and discussed the latest industry news.

The event was moderated by Editor-in-Chief at Legalbet Sergey Shvedov.

Speakers' reports: what was discussed at the conference?

On legislation and new realities for bookmaking

The event was opened with a speech from the owner of Pravovaya Liniya LLC Mariya Lepshikova. She spoke about the amendments that were introduced in 2020 to the legislation on regulating the organization of gambling, including: limiting events, approving of a unified regulator, new requirements for targeted allocations of betting operators. Separately, the speaker analyzed which sporting events are included in a single calendar plan.

Oleg Davydov, Executive Director at the First Self-regulatory Organization of Russian Bookmakers, spoke about how the approach to regulating the betting business will change after the law on the Unified gambling regulator comes into force in September 2021. In addition, he mentioned the disciplinary measures taken by the legal company on the market participants.

The topic “Anti-crisis management of a betting company” was raised by the President at BetBoom Konstantin Makarov. He shared the experience of the bookmaker. The expert explained how his team has managed to maintain the network of the betting shop and all staff, as well as to increase sponsorship assets during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marina Lysikova, General Director at CONSULT LLC, spoke about the activities of sweepstakes in Russia, in accordance with the innovations in the legislation. She assessed the legal changes in the regulation of the sweepstakes operations and explained the specifics of their work.

Co-founder of DPO LLC Siarhey Varankevich, as part of his report, raised the issue of using the GDPR in the online segment of the gambling market. He clarified who the regulations apply to and how operators should conduct business so as not to violate the established requirements.

Application of technologies in business, working with clients and promoting online projects

The guests were greatly interested in the speech of the founder of Rating of Bookmakers online portal Paruyr Shahbazyan. He highlighted the main problems of the betting market, including: distrust to bookmakers from players, affiliate shaving, high fees for payments. Then the speaker talked about technologies that can help in solving these problems. Among them are blockchain, smart contracts, DAO and cryptocurrencies.

The advantages of integrating fast payment systems and loyalty systems for gambling and betting businesses were discussed by Valeriy Petrov, Vice President at RACIB. He assured that the introduction of payment platforms with the ability to use blockchain technology allows attracting the most solvent and loyal customers.

The issue of diversifying local payment channels to scale the business was considered by the Sales Manager at 1ClickPay Ben Nguyen. He drew attention to the volume of the Asian betting market and its advantages for Russian companies.

The guests of the conference liked the report of the founder of Quints Roman Bout, who analyzed the important nuances of building relationships between bookmakers and gamblers. The speaker listed the types of bettors, indicated the main channels for attracting them and named effective ways of interaction between the operator and customers.

The founder of Semantist.ru Dmitriy Shevtsov, in his report, explained step by step how Internet projects can attract free and motivated traffic. The expert recommended to thoroughly conduct customer requests, create a matrix of topics from them and subsequently build a SEO content.

Round table: participants and topics discussed

The maximum number of positive reviews was collected by the round table on the topic “Transition from SRO to a single regulator”. Its participants were:

• Konstantin Makarov – President at BetBoom.
• Oleg Davydov – Executive Director at the First Self-regulatory Organization of Russian Bookmakers.
• Igor Stolyarov – Deputy CEO at Liga Stavok.
• Yuriy Fedorov – Advisor to the President of the Russian Wrestling Federation.
• Zoya Trifonova – Head of Legal Department at the All-Russian Volleyball Federation.
• Dmitry Sergeev – CEO at Parimatch CIS.

The experts discussed a wide range of issues related to the financing of sports in accordance with the new requirements, the problems of regulating the betting business and the consequences of the latest changes in legislation.

What companies were represented in the demo zone?

In 2021, nine companies became participants of RGW demo zone:

• SuperLive – a multi-platform software that allows to make bets on the results of events during a match and guess which one will come next.
• SPS Legal – an international company that provides services for registering companies, opening accounts in foreign banks and providing assistance in obtaining gambling licenses.
• Payler – a group of companies that develops financial solutions for corporate clients. Offers Internet acquiring services, mass payments service, antifraud system, etc.
• 1ClickPay – a service that allows to make financial transactions online. Provides a payment platform that is fully automated and equipped with customizable integration tools.
• ScentAir – a company providing scent marketing, scent branding, scent design and scent cleaning services for various types of business.
• Entercam – a manufacturing company that develops software for recognition and identification systems, as well as supplies the corresponding equipment.
• CPA.STORE – an internet marketing company. It extracts high-quality, targeted traffic and redirects it to the sites of its clients.
• Digitain – an Armenia-based software provider that provides cutting edge sportsbook solutions, online casino games, sports data and statistics, iGaming website creation tool and much more.
• HOQU – a platform for creating affiliate networks and affiliate programs, as well as managing and optimizing advertising campaigns.

Event sponsors

The organizing team of Russian Gaming Week 2021 would like to thank the sponsors of the event for their significant support:

• General sponsor – CPA.STORE company, which specializes in promoting projects on the Internet, performance marketing and traffic arbitrage.
• Gold sponsor – a complex system for accepting payments online, 1ClickPay.
• Coffee Break Sponsor – supplier of software and equipment for automation of access control Entercam.
• Badge Sponsor – Digitain, a provider of advanced software solutions for various verticals of the gambling business.
• Sponsor of Registration Desk – BetGames.TV, a provider of live games.
• Bags Sponsor – Alpha Affiliates, an affiliate program promoting gambling and betting platforms in foreign markets.

We thank everyone who showed interest in the event and participated. We are waiting for you at our next events!