Play activity or not? Organization questions?

Question

Law in IT

Good afternoon.
If a site is created on the network on which:
People register, activate an account. Then they exchange real money for virtual ones.
Virtual ones are used by concluding a certain kind of forecasts on the site, as on futuriti.ru, for example. (i.e. not a casino, not poker, etc.). Money is actually transferred from one person to another. The system lives off commissions.
The questions are as follows:
1. Does such an activity fall under the gambling activity prohibited in the country? (what laws to read about this).
2. Will licenses be required from the company that is the organizer? If so, which ones?
3. How is it most beneficial for users to organize the exchange of real currency for virtual and vice versa? (so that the commission does not eat up half or more of the input funds).
4. What is more correct: to take a commission for the conversion of funds from clients or from each completed bet?
5. What server capacity is best suited for a site with a similar load?
6. Advise what to read on the topic of organizing such sites on the network.
As far as I understand, it is quite problematic to organize the conversion of funds on your own and you need to use the services of gateways. Or I'm wrong?
In principle, the most convenient in this case is replenishment from a mobile phone. If the commission is small.
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

2. Will licenses be required from the company that is the organizer? If so, which ones?
No. www.consultant.ru/popular/license/38_1.html
5. What server capacity is best suited for a site with a similar load?
With what load? How many visits?
6. Advise what to read on the topic of organizing such sites on the network.
Complicated. Up-to-date information is usually kept. Published for the most part no longer relevant.

Answer 2

You have now described the activities of bookmakers.

Answer 3

Very similar to the tote. And what will you take real money for? That is, what kind of service is provided to people, according to the documents?
I remember one of the projects to abolish the concept of winning from the threat of recognition as gambling. There, the “winner” did not receive any cash prize, but received the right to participate in subsequent rounds free of charge. The “losers” brought the money. Payments to participants were canceled altogether and contributions were reduced. The organizer has become a simple "service provider".

Answer 4

First of all, read "FEDERAL LAW ON STATE REGULATION OF ACTIVITIES IN ORGANIZING AND CARRYING OUT GAMBLING AND ON AMENDING SOME LEGISLATIVE ACTS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION" 244-FZ of December 29, 2006.
In my opinion, what you describe falls under the definition of "tote":

Article 4. Basic concepts used in this Federal Law
...
15) totalizator - a gambling establishment or a part of a gambling establishment in which the organizer of gambling organizes betting between participants in this type of gambling;

which means it applies

Article 5. Restrictions on the implementation of activities for the organization and conduct of gambling
...
3. Activities for the organization and conduct of gambling using information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, as well as means of communication, including mobile communications, are prohibited.

In order not to fall under this law, you need to somehow get around the definitions.

1) gambling - a risk-based winning agreement concluded by two or more participants in such an agreement between themselves or with the organizer of gambling according to the rules established by the organizer of gambling;
2) bet - gambling, in which the outcome of a risk-based agreement on winning, concluded by two or more participants in a bet between themselves or with the organizer of this type of gambling, depends on an event, regarding which it is not known whether it will occur or not;
3) bet - funds transferred by a participant of gambling to the organizer of gambling or another participant in gambling and serving as a condition for participation in gambling in accordance with the rules established by the organizer of gambling;
4) winnings - money or other property, including property rights, subject to payment or transfer to a participant in a game of chance upon the occurrence of a result of the game of chance, provided for by the rules established by the organizer of the game of chance;
5) the organizer of gambling - a legal entity carrying out activities for the organization and conduct of gambling;
6) activities for organizing and conducting gambling - activities aimed at concluding risk-based agreements on winning with participants in gambling and (or) organizing the conclusion of such agreements between two or more participants in gambling;

The simplest, as noted above, is to avoid winning, that is, players will not receive money, property or rights (in particular, electronic money is often a right to claim) upon the occurrence of the result of the game.
It may make sense to consult a good lawyer about rewarding players with prizes. Let's say every day the top 100/1000/1000000 receives cash prizes, the amount of which, purely by chance :), coincides with the score in the electronic game. Maybe such a scheme will not lead to "less remote places."

Answer 5

As for the cash flow:
* There are no problems with the receipt of funds from customers. Clients simply pay you for access to your system .
* If the amount of the client's winnings does not exceed the funds spent by him, then there are no problems either! And “on average” this is exactly what will happen, for example, a hamster lost 1500 rubles for a month, then decided to win back and blew another 2000 rubles, then another 3000 rubles, and then joyful, won 4000 rubles and is happy to heaven !!! We (NB: perfectly legal) just do a "refund of unused funds" to him, because in fact that is how it is(the hamster made an advance payment for a total of 6500 rubles during the month, of which 2500 rubles were honestly spent on services, and 4000 rubles is a return of unused funds, he simply takes the unspent part of the prepayment). There are no problems or questions!
* "Slippery situation" occurs only when (and this is 1-2% of cases, pros or lucky ones) when the player wins more than he spends. That is, this is an unpleasant option when you pay the user out of some kind of fright! This is where the help of a lawyer can come in handy! In principle, the fewer situations you have when you have to pay money to individuals, the fewer questions you will have. So immediately think over the options (which may be of interest to users). These can be material prizes (all sorts of phones, iPods, laptops), and all sorts of intangible coupons, services of partner firms, etc.
And from a technical point of view, you understand, servers and all that is better to keep at the same time not in this country.