National Association of Bookmakers. The National Association of Bookmakers of Russia is being reformatted into an association of bettors

Disputes often arise between bookmakers and customers regarding non-payment of winnings, incorrectly settled bets and in any case when a player feels cheated. In 2016, the first legal online bookmakers started operating in Russia, after which players on the Internet had more opportunities to defend their rights.

An excursion into the regulation of bookmakers in Russia

In 2007, Federal Law No. 244 “On State Regulation of Organization and Conduct of Gambling and on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts” came into force, which spells out the rules of work and obligations of bookmakers, including to their players.

The activities of bookmakers are controlled by the Federal Tax Service. From 2014, companies with a betting license must join a self-regulatory organization and pay a contribution of 30 million rubles to the SRO compensation fund. It is assumed that this money will cover the obligations of the organizer of gambling to customers in case of problems.

In 2014, the concept of an interactive bet appeared. These bets are placed by the client of the Russian bookmaker on its website. Each SRO has set up an Interactive Rate Transfer Accounting Center (TSUPIS) on the platform of a bank or NBCO. TsUPIS is an intermediary between an online bookmaker and a player. It is TsUPIS that accepts money from the player and transfers it to the bookmaker. It takes into account all transactions and controls the payment of income tax, reporting to the Federal Tax Service.

“Unless, if a criminal case is initiated in connection with illegal gambling in the Russian segment of the Internet, the owners of the site will be identified and brought to justice, and they will be charged damages to injured players who filed a civil lawsuit in a criminal case. There is such a legal instrument,” says Maria Lepshchikova, lawyer for Pravovaya Liniya.

How to resolve a dispute with a bookmaker on your own

If a dispute arises and the player does not agree with the decision of a bookmaker legal in Russia, he must record all the evidence. At a minimum, take screenshots from the account on the bookmaker’s website, or better, certify the evidence electronically with a notary. The service costs from 20 thousand rubles, and this money can be presented later for reimbursement, says Maria Lepshchikova.

“Then the player must contact the bank that issued the bookmaker a bank guarantee worth 500 million rubles. And then the bank must pay the bookmaker’s debts,” the lawyer continues.

According to Lepshchikova, if the bank does not pay, you need to write an application to the Federal Tax Service and indicate that the bookmaker probably has problems with the bank guarantee. Then the tax service must conduct an unscheduled audit to confirm licensing requirements in terms of a bank guarantee. Maria Lepshchikova draws attention to the fact that threatening with a complaint and persuading the bookmaker to pay the disputed money without any problems is a kind of “bargaining element”.

“I am a trial lawyer, but this does not mean that I recommend everyone to go to court. It is often easier for a consumer in the Russian Federation to put pressure on a service seller with threats of complaints, and it is easier for a company to pay a disputed amount to a consumer than to get checked, ”she emphasizes.

How disputes are resolved in betting SROs

If the player has not been paid out the winnings or incorrectly calculated the result of the bet, he must first of all contact the administration of the bookmaker office that is holding this winnings. This is explained by the president of the "Association of bookmakers" Darina Denisova. If the bookmaker and the client fail to solve the indicated problem, then the player should contact the SRO, which includes this bookmaker.

Complaints in which a player points out a violation of the law are transferred by the SRO to the Federal Tax Service, since this is within the competence of the licensing authority, says Yuri Krasovsky, president of the First Self-Regulatory Organization and the betting company Liga Stavok.

“In order for a complaint to be accepted for consideration, it must meet a number of criteria: the player’s data (full name, phone number, email), specific circumstances that the player considers disputable must be indicated. It is also necessary to indicate the bookmaker to which the complaint is directed, including its license number. It is advisable to attach documentary evidence to the complaint (screenshots, checks),” he says.

According to Krasovsky, if the form of filing a complaint meets all the listed requirements, then the organization considers it within no more than 10 days from the date of receipt. Based on the results of the consideration of the complaint, if the facts are confirmed, they may appoint an unscheduled check of the bookmaker. In case of unsatisfactory results, the company should be subject to disciplinary action.

At the same time, there are fundamental differences between the existing SROs and the first industry organization in Russia - the National Association of Bookmakers. NAB was a voluntary association of a part of betting companies, which means that it did not have the opportunity and tools to effectively resolve disputes, explains the president of the First SRO. In addition, the NAB did not have a compensation fund to settle the claims of players in the event of financial insolvency of betting companies. With the advent of the SRO, this has changed.

Alternative paths

For more than six years, complaints from players have been accepted by the Bookmaker Rating website. As a result, the players were returned more than 200 million rubles, as of August 2018. Of these, 173.19 million rubles were returned to the players on complaints left mainly to Russian legal offices.

Most often, as the reason for the complaint, players indicate an incorrectly calculated bet, delayed payment of winnings, uncredited bonus, account blocking and confiscation of the account balance.

“The rating of a bookmaker on our site depends directly on its reliability. Here we have two components: the presence of a license in Russia (only such companies can receive ratings of 4 and 5) and effective handling of player complaints. Only the bookmaker that really solves the problems of customers who contact us can claim the highest score on our five-point scale,” said Alexey Tkachuk, Strategic Development Director at Bookmaker Rating.

There is no specific system in terms of prompt resolution of disputes. The bookmaker can give an answer quickly, but some complaints can be “bypassed”. There are situations when bookmakers warn that the check will take a long time, but sometimes they can immediately resolve the issue, for example, recalculate the bet.

How disputes are resolved in the West

There are no organizations similar to Russian SROs in other countries. But there are independent associations involved in resolving disputes between the bookmaker and the player. As elsewhere, in the UK, problems that have arisen can be discussed directly with the betting company, however, if the parties are at an impasse, the player can contact IBAS, a partner of bookmakers and the UK Gaming Commission.

IBAS staff handle betting complaints, in particular if there is a delay or denial of winnings. The organization's website states that it does not participate in disputes about customer service standards, social responsibility policies of bookmakers and does not study matches that can be contractual.

If IBAS experts have resolved the dispute in favor of the player and the amount of funds to be returned to the client is less than £10,000, then the bookmaker is obliged to recalculate. If the amount is higher, the bookmaker can go to court. The IBAS website claims that the organization received 7,358 complaints in 2017. The total amount of funds returned last year amounted to 656.8 thousand pounds.

SRO "Association of Betting Offices" is a classic self-regulatory organization, which was originally in the form of NP "Association of Organizers of Gambling in Betting Offices", but after changing the legislation, it adjusted and now acts as a competitor to the First SRO. SRO BC was established in 2016 under the second TsUPIS, which belongs to QIWI-Bank and is already working fine.

Why is a second SRO needed?

We will not dwell on what SRO is and why it was invented, all this can be found in previous articles. It is much more interesting to discuss why the second SRO was established. It seems to me that ordinary competition is involved here, and the Association of Bookmakers SRO and TsUPIS (QIWI-Bank) have an advantage, because they entered the market second, which means they took into account all the mistakes of the First SRO and the First TsUPIS. And secondly, QIWI has its own bank and, most importantly, a wallet in which you can be identified;) And this is such a big advantage. Judge for yourself, the First TsUPIS does not have its own tools for quick identification, so this function fell on the BCs themselves, and they do not always have the possibility of a convenient identity verification process. So it turns out that the SRO BC is in the kings, of course, for the time being.

Bookmakers related to SRO

Information about SRO BC

The correspondent of the "Rating of Bookmakers" took part in a meeting with the press, which was organized by representatives of the Russian Association of Bookmakers. The meeting was attended by RosAB President and Executive Director of Bingo Boom Konstantin Makarov and Leonid Obozny, Head of the RosAB Expert Council and President of First Gaming. They commented on the blocking of betting sites on the Internet and spoke about their attitude to the amendments of the Ministry of Finance to 244-FZ.

According to the participants of the All-Russian public organization Russian Association of Bookmakers (RosAB), the amendments set out in draft No. 260152-6, which amends Federal Law No. 244, carry a number of significant risks for the gambling industry and the economy as a whole. They do not correspond to the logic of the development of the legislative framework in the gambling and entertainment industry. The current version of the law was adopted at the end of 2006, only from January 1, 2007, some of its provisions came into force, and in 2013, Federal Law 198 amended 244-FZ regarding countering match-fixing. Such frequent changes in legislation do not allow businesses to build a long-term development strategy.

There is a factor of significant additional financial burden on the business. The adoption of the amendments will create the effect of “overregulation” of the market, that is, it will create parallel regulation, which, in turn, will lead to the emergence of commercial corruption. Amendments to the bill provide for the mandatory entry of organizers of gambling into the Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) with the delegation from the state of the rights to develop norms and standards of conduct for organizers of gambling. In particular, the heads of SROs, in fact, private individuals, are entitled to apply penalties and take measures to exclude companies from their organization. Since, according to the amendments, only a SRO member can do business, the exclusion automatically entails the termination of the activity. Individuals are given managerial and financial opportunities to put pressure on businesses. All this creates fertile ground for the flourishing of unfair competition.

Another point that representatives of RosAB drew attention to is the concept of a “single center for accounting for interactive rates of bookmakers and sweepstakes”. Such a center was discussed in Presidential Order No. PR-2240, in accordance with which a draft amendment was developed. It was assumed that this center should be unified throughout the Russian Federation, process all bets accepted by the organizer of gambling in all gambling games held on the territory of the Russian Federation, and keep records of the bets made and paid winnings for each participant of the gambling game. This center should be under the jurisdiction of the federal executive body exercising federal state supervision in the field of organizing and conducting gambling.

The draft amendments introduce the concept of "interactive betting center" instead, and nowhere does it say that it will be unified. The introduction of the concept of "interactive rate" will give a clear negative effect. From its definition it follows that it must be transmitted using a payment terminal, ATM and / or electronic means of payment. Given the availability of these funds and their wide distribution, anyone can place a bet - both children and socially unprotected segments of the population.

According to representatives of the Russian Association of Bookmakers, the introduction of "interactive bets" will lead to the fact that people will not need to verify their identity and age when placing a bet, since this can be done in any payment terminal, ATM, mobile phone, simply by pressing the appropriate button. In this case, it will be impossible to track whether the person who wants to play via the Internet is of legal age.

Ultimately, all this - joining the SRO without fail, a significant contribution to the compensation fund, commissions for setting rates, transferring legal business online, the general legal "dampness" of the bill (as indicated in its conclusion by the Ministry of Economic Development) - will lead to the development illegal gambling business, monopolization of the market and a surge in gambling addiction.

Konstantin Makarov and Leonid Obozny offered their vision of the issue and noted the moves that, in their opinion, need to be made.

1. The draft amendments must contain recommendations on changing Articles 1062 and 1063 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation concerning judicial protection of the claims of gamblers in terms of ensuring judicial protection of the claims of gamblers in case of violation of their rights and legitimate interests, as well as establishing an exhaustive list of methods conclusion of agreements between the organizer and participant of gambling, as well as documents confirming the conclusion of such agreements.

2. A taxable minimum of income (winnings) must be established.

3. A truly unified center for accounting for interactive rates should be created under the leadership of the federal government.

4. The necessity and expediency of legalizing the game on the Internet must be publicly recognized. If this recognition occurs, then it is necessary to fully regulate the process of the game - the adoption of relevant regulations. The draft amendments say nothing about the taxation of the industry. A chapter on taxation should be introduced, 244-FZ, the Tax Code, and other regulations should be supplemented without delay.

5. A clear regulation of the access of a citizen of the Russian Federation of the appropriate age to the online industry should be introduced. Abroad, almost all issues related to preventing children from playing on the Internet have been resolved, and appropriate checks have been introduced. This experience should be adopted.

6. There must be constant counteraction and blocking of foreign companies that do not have an appropriate license to operate on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Representatives of RosAB also commented on all the pressing issues related to the betting business in Russia, in particular, the blocking of betting sites on March 21.

“With regard to blocking betting sites, it is not necessary to extol the contribution of the SRO in this regard. Today, the court decides to block the sites. Who will go to court or to Roskomnadzor - there is no big difference. Every citizen of Russia can write a statement about the offense. As for the list of blocked sites, it seems that the SRO employees did some work, albeit not a comprehensive one, singled out certain domain names and wrote them in the application. It's great that this work has been done. It's already something. Of course, game organizers could create new domain names, but in any case, the work must be done. From our side it is also underway. We are working on the domain names of sites where the law is violated. It is impossible to dwell on this issue, ”said Konstantin Makarov.

Leonid Obozny expressed his point of view regarding the initiative of the Young Guard of United Russia on pre-trial blocking of illegally operating betting sites: “If the Young Guard of United Russia has the competence to characterize, on certain grounds, that the site is subject to blocking, then we do not mind. But I doubt that this can be done so easily, you still need to conduct an examination. Some sites simply release information about quotes, compare quotes from different offices. The message of the "Young Guard" is clear. And it's good for us too. None of us benefit from the dominance of illegal sites. But it is unlikely that the Young Guard will block websites - it can only initiate this process. And someone competent should say: indeed, you need to block. The main thing is that all this comes from the state and has a normative basis.”

Konstantin Makarov and Leonid Obozny called the initiative of a member of the Just Russia party Oleg Mikheev, who proposed to oblige bookmakers to give 10 percent of the proceeds to support sports, a utopian initiative.

Konstantin Makarov: “I heard about the initiative of one of the members of the Just Russia party to introduce an amendment that would oblige bookmakers to give 10 percent of the total amount of players' bets for the needs of sports. This amendment has no financial and economic justification. Such an amendment will definitely affect the marginality of the market. If you enter it, then the betting business can be closed. In our country, from July 1, a state monopoly on lotteries is being introduced. Take 10 percent of the total lottery ticket sales, and then you can raise not only sports, but also build kindergartens, hospitals, whatever.

Leonid Obozny: “This is a utopia. Marginality is on average 10 percent. And, in fact, the proposal is to give all our margin to the needs of the sport. If we were talking about online and about the percentage of profits, that is, from the funds wagered and won by bookmakers, this would be reasonable. But I'm only talking about online. If touched offline, it will simply crumble. There are high costs - rent, taxes, wages. It is very expensive. And so, if we were to offer all Russian offices that are offshore to return to Russia and offer 10 percent, not 2, but be "white", then this makes sense.

By and large, if you sensibly assess this bill, then you can immediately forget about it. Nobody will even consider it. After all, every day someone seeks to promote. 5-6 bills come in a day: 3 from the Liberal Democratic Party, one each from A Just Russia and United Russia. With a 100% guarantee, only government ones pass. Most likely, this amendment will be aimed precisely at holding lotteries. And the deputy of the "Fair Russia", perhaps, simply did not understand the terminology.

The self-regulatory organization "Association of Bookmakers" was established in 2014 with the aim of uniting and representing the interests of bookmakers operating on the basis of licenses from the Federal Tax Service. Having received a license to accept interactive bets, the bookmaker must decide on the organization through which the accounting and acceptance of bets will be kept, one of which is the SRO "Association of Bookmakers". The abbreviated self-regulatory organization "Association of Bookmakers" is called SRO Bookmakers.

Official logo of SRO Bookmakers

Who manages SRO Bookmakers

The organization was founded by Konstantin Makarov, who previously and is currently the President of Bingo-Boom Management LLC and the Russian Association of Bookmakers. From June 2014 to November 2015, Konstantin Makarov was the President of the SRO "Association of Bookmakers", after which he became the Chairman of the Board of the organization. And Darina Denisova replaced him as president of the self-regulatory organization.

Darina Denisova has extensive experience in the betting business and previously worked as an independent consultant for Russian and foreign betting and lottery companies, and also acted as Vice President of the National Association of Bookmakers and a member of the board of SRO Bookmakers.

Activity

SRO Bookmakers makes a huge contribution to the development of sports betting in Russia. In addition to representing the interests of bookmakers and players, the organization fights against match-fixing and works to improve the conditions for betting. One of the most important issues today is taxation, which is not yet very welcomed by either bookmakers or players. Also, the activities of the SRO "Association of bookmakers" coordinates the deductions of bookmakers to support Russian sports.

Who is included in the SRO of Bookmakers (list)

At the time of writing, the SRO of Bookmakers includes the following bookmakers and organizations:

We have personally verified that the SRO of Bookmakers is in contact and is open for communication, discussion of issues and resolution of disputes that have arisen among the players.

Thanks to SRO Bookmakers and similar organizations, the betting market in Russia is recovering and gaining momentum, which, albeit indirectly, entails the development of sports in our country!

The Association of Players should appear as a result of the reformatting of the National Association of Russian Bookmakers (NAB). This was announced to Betting Business Russia by NAB President Yuri Fedorov.

“Our organization united the bookmakers, but apart from that, we protected the interests of the players when their rights were violated.” - says Yuri Fedorov. “At a time when it was necessary to create self-regulatory organizations and unite bookmakers in self-regulatory organizations, we set ourselves the task of protecting players, training and consulting them. A profile change would be appropriate."

The President of the NAB said that the name and charter of the organization will be changed in April of this year.

For the first time, the intention of the NAB to make a bias towards protecting the interests of the players was said by Fedorov in February. The Russian Association of Bookmakers (RosAB) also expressed its readiness to protect the interests of bookmakers' clients together with NAB. Konstantin Makarov, president of the self-regulatory organization Non-Commercial Partnership of Organizers of Gambling in Bookmakers, said that effective protection of clients is possible with the admission of individuals to the association.

NAB started its activity in 2005. The purpose of the organization before the change was to create a favorable economic environment for the development of the betting business in Russia, help increase government and sports industry revenues, provide protection to players, combat sports fraud and promote fair play. The organization announced in February its intention to create an independent rating of bookmakers.