Russian bookmakers had a good year in 2018 recording about RUB1.2 trillion or $18 billion in bets, about 70 percent higher than 2017.
The figures come from Russian media and include both legal bets and bets at unlicensed offshore sites.
Representatives of Russia’s leading bookmakers—Liga Stavok, Parimatch, and Bwin—told Asian Gaming Brief that the estimates were fairly accurate and 2018 set a new record for Russian betting. During the World Cup alone Russians placed RUB 250 billion with licensed bookmakers.
The size of an average bet was RUB1,500 rubles, and 4.7 million people made a bet on sports in Russian at least once last year, the reports said.
Fonbet led the licensed market with 45 percent of bets while 1x Bet took 20 percent. Liga Stavok took 18 percent and Leon came in last at 16 percent.
