Russia’s Offshore Gambling Market Shrinks to 40% of Demand
Jacob Mitchell 
Licensed operators expanded their share of demand to 60% in the first half of 2026, while Russia’s total iGaming market was valued at an estimated $4.5 billion, according to Blask.
Offshore casino brands are steadily losing ground in Russia.
Their share of total gambling-related search demand fell from 47.2% in January to 40% in June 2026, the lowest level recorded since 2018, according to Blask, an iGaming analytics platform that measures the market through player search behavior.
Licensed bookmakers absorbed much of that demand. Their share rose from 52.8% to 60% over the same period.
Blask tracked 185 brands operating in Russia during the first half of the year, 178 of which remained active. The platform’s baseline estimate placed total market revenue for January through June at $4.5 billion, while the estimated number of newly acquired players reached 26.2 million.
Fonbet, a licensed bookmaker, remained the country’s largest operator. It accounted for between 21% and 27% of monthly search demand, and its cumulative Blask Index for the first half of the year was more than twice that of its nearest competitor.
About Blask
Blask is an AI-native market intelligence platform for the iGaming industry. It tracks search demand, competitive positioning and modeled financial performance for thousands of brands across more than 130+ markets in real time.
