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30.05.2008 - Place Your Bets ("Moscow News") There was a time when there were no casinos or gambling in Russia. Soviet citizens only heard about gambling from the mass media, or from friends or colleagues who visited Western countries and gaming meccas like Las Vegas or Monte Carlo. Few people could have predicted at that time that one day casinos would pop up in Russia, eventually becoming widespread throughout the country. But then there was perestroika, and r’radical change’ became the dominant theme in all spheres of Russian life. Casinos opened and resembled the best operations in the West. Eventually, many people started to visit the casinos - places where it was possible to win or lose great sums of money. But this new freedom inevitably attracted criticism and so, in December of 2006 the Duma passed a law to regulate the gambling industry. According to the Law, four gambling zones should appear: in the Altay region, Primorskiy (or Maritime) territory, Kaliningrad region, and on the border of Krasnodar territory and the Rostov region. Casinos that meet all of the necessary requirements may continue their operations outside those zones for about one year - until June 30, 2009. But what will happen after that? Yuri Blinov, Director of Mirazh casino on Novy Arbat told The Moscow News that his casino had been open since 2002. All this time business has been stable and successful. "Visitors to the casino represent a wide cross-section of society," Blinov said. "They are obviously satisfied with the activities of the casino. Most of them are ordinary people, although few could be described as categorically poor. Famous people do not visit our casino." When the new law comes into force, the casino will have to change its profile and perhaps operate as a nightclub or restaurant, as it was before. Blinov added that they would fully comply with the decision of the State Duma, but "of course, our customers are saddened by the turn of events," he said. The Moscow News also spoke to Lavrentiy Gubin, the Press Secretary of Storm International, which operates the Jazz Town Casino on Taganskaya Square and various others, including Shangri LA, New York, Udarnik and Carnival. He said that Jazz Town had been open since 1995, but that when it started up it was called the Vinso Grand. "Storm International, which is registered in the Netherlands, is a co-owner of the casino. Since then the activity of the casino had been very successful and profitable. Besides a casino, we have a restaurant and a jazz club here," he said. He added that Jazz Town’s customers are mainly wealthy businessmen, people who have high incomes who can afford to spend hundreds of dollars or more in a single evening. He added that popular people regularly visit the casino, but he declined to name them. "I am pessimistic about the prospects of gambling in the regions because they are not properly equipped and are not suitable for this kind of industry," Gubin said. "But I am hopeful that the authorities will display a more reasonable attitude to the problem and reconsider some of their decisions. I would suggest the formation and the establishment of other zones, probably on the territory of the Moscow region where the development of such business would be more feasible." Gubin added that he thought the Duma legislation was unfair because "people who invested very large sums of money in their enterprises are now being forced to close." "In the United States, you have gambling in one form or another in the majority of states, not just the highly conspicuous gambling havens of Las Vegas and Atlantic City," Gubin argued. "The British approach should be taken into consideration [Gambling is widespread in Britain. Ed.], where the laws are very clearly stipulated and which regulate this activity very successfully. For instance, such laws require licensing of personnel and financial transparency and bright signs are not allowed. It used to be the case that anyone who wanted to visit a casino had to apply for permission 24 hours in advance, so no spontaneous decisions were possible. That, however, was changed as it affected business so negatively." The spokesman for Storm International believes that gambling is very successful in most European countries, where it operates quite legally. "They don’t have such a system of gambling zones, like that which is being introduced in our country," he added. He thinks that by July 2009 these zones will not have been formed, "as far as our company, Storm International, is concerned, we are now trying to open up gambling businesses abroad... Now we are working on a project related to the opening of a similar business in Egypt." Meanwhile, Gubin thinks that gambling is not an investment but a leisure activity that should be paid for. "If a person is ready to pay for this kind of leisure, most likely he won’t have problems... I believe that if a person goes to a casino to solve material problems, he will probably be disappointed. In my opinion, the main purpose for going to casinos is for entertainment and to feel certain emotions. Here a visitor wants to experience risk as much as fortune." Gubin thinks that the law would affect all of his competitors in a similar fashion, "these planned gambling zones have no experience and business is not interested in them. And the possibility that they will be economically efficient is very slight." By Alexey Peskov Source: Moscow News №21 2008 |  |  | 
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