Criminal law issues in the introduction of gambling zones as a way to regulate the organization and conduct of gambling

State control measures in the field of gambling during the discussion and approval of the draft Federal Law No. 344588-4 “On state regulation of gambling activities”, proposed by V.V. Putin, deserve special interest and attention of the researcher, since now there is a real opportunity to assess their effectiveness and efficiency. The legislator, making a decision on the need to tighten the state regulation of gambling activities in terms of allocating special territories intended for organizing and conducting gambling, in 2006 paid special attention to the protection of morality, rights and legitimate interests of citizens. Nevertheless, five years later, the norm of Article 171.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was placed in Chapter 22. It is noteworthy that this chapter contains elements of crimes, the generic object of which is economics, not morality. The idea to protect the population from gambling by allowing them exclusively on the territory of gambling zones has not justified itself. Illegal gambling continues to generate new forms and patterns of activity, mastering the Internet space, and the country's budget in a difficult economic and military-political situation loses an impressive amount of revenue from these activities. The author sees the solution to this problem in the abolition of restrictions on the conduct and organization of gambling exclusively on the territory of special gambling zones established by the current legislation, proposing to introduce a new concept of “gambling territory” into circulation. According to the author, this will help the legislator to implement both the previously set goals and objectives - the protection of morality, rights and legitimate interests of citizens from the harmful impact of gambling, and subsequently adjusted - control and regulation of economic activity in the field of gambling.