Who pays tax on casino winnings in Russia?

Living abroad and holding a Russian passport are different questions

Under Tax Code Article 207, the general residency test is at least 183 calendar days in Russia during 12 consecutive months, with specific exceptions. Citizenship alone does not establish tax residency. Check your status for the relevant tax period, especially if you moved during the year.

Article 209 subjects Russian tax residents to tax on income from Russian and foreign sources. If you are not a Russian tax resident, the worldwide-income conclusion and resident rates below cannot simply be copied to your situation. The source of the income then becomes essential.

The casino notice rule has a specific scope

Article 214.7 sets a special annual calculation for Russian casinos and slot halls: the positive difference between money received from organizers and money paid to them in exchange for gaming tokens. The FNS uses organizer data supplied under Russia's cash-register rules.

For this category, the FNS calculates the tax after the year ends. Payment is due under the tax notice by 1 December of the following year, subject to the ordinary deadline rules. You do not submit a 3-NDFL declaration solely for that casino income. Check the calculation against your receipts and ask the FNS to correct discrepancies.

That reporting system does not establish that an overseas online casino submits the same data. It also does not create a universal rule allowing every online player to subtract all deposits from all withdrawals.

For a foreign casino, prepare the declaration before the deadline

Article 228 generally requires a Russian tax resident to calculate and declare income from foreign sources themselves, unless a specific Tax Code exception applies. The annual 3-NDFL deadline is 30 April of the following year; payment is due by 15 July. Receiving no FNS notice does not remove this duty.

A payout can contain winnings and money you originally funded. Preserve the deposit, betting and withdrawal history so those amounts can be distinguished. A bank transfer alone may show who sent money without explaining what it represents. The amount to declare needs a supported income classification, not a guess based on your account balance.

Do not automatically deduct every losing bet, earlier year's losses, deposit or transfer fee. The Code provides particular calculations for particular gambling categories; it does not give a blanket deduction for an offshore account's lifetime losses.

Where the foreign payout's treatment is unclear, send the FNS a written question with the operator's legal entity and country, your tax residency, game type, dates and amounts, and the account ledger. Ask which income category applies, which documented amounts can reduce the base, and whether the winnings exemption applies. If payment was in crypto, include the asset and valuation records. Those details make the question answerable.

Keep the crypto receipt and the sale as separate records

Suppose a casino pays you in USDT and you later sell it for rubles. Keep evidence of the original payout, its date, amount and ruble valuation, then the sale price, date and documented acquisition cost. A transaction hash identifies a transfer; the casino ledger explains why you received it.

Income from the sale or other disposal of digital currency has a separate tax-base group under Articles 210 and 224: 13% up to RUB 2.4 million and 15% above that threshold for residents. Do not apply the winnings table to that sale without checking the correct category and allowable documented costs.

The receipt of a foreign casino crypto win still needs its own classification. The sale rules do not establish that the original win is tax-free, that it is mining income, or that tax only matters when money reaches a bank. Keep the two events identifiable so the same history can support the calculation of each.