The owner and CEO of FC Spartak Moscow, oil tycoon Leonid Fedun, says it will bring additional revenue into Russian football.
“Let’s look at the British Premier League, where every second team has a bookmaker as sponsor. The bookmaking business is booming. People spend a lot of money on bets, some of that money could be given to football clubs,” he told Russian news agency Tass.
According to the Russian Ministry of Communications, as of summer 2015, the value of domestic betting market reached 150 billion rubles, which is more than $2 billion. The annual net profit is $35 million.
Back in 2015, the Ministry of Finance suggested a 13 percent income tax on gamblers’ profits if it exceeds 4,000 rubles. The tax was supposed to be withheld by bookmakers and later transferred to the government.