Sunday, December 17, 2006

Russia's lower house of parliament on Friday backed sweeping gambling
legislation force casinos across the country to relocate into four
designated zones.
The State Duma voted 425-0 on a key second reading to pass the
Kremlin-backed legislation, which would set up the four special regions by
July 1, 2009.
All gambling and slot machine businesses -- including those in Moscow where
casinos and slot halls appear to be virtually on every street corner --
would have to close and move to the Primorsky, Altai, Rostov/Krasnodar or
Kaliningrad regions. Primorsky is a Pacific region, wedged between the Sea
of Japan and China; while Kaliningrad is located on the Baltic Sea and cut
off from Russia proper by Lithuania and Belarus. The Rostov/Krasnodar
regions are located along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, while Altai is
a mountainous region along the borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia. New
rules would also go into effect on Jan. 1, 2007, setting up minimum age
limits for casino-goers, a minimum number of gambling tables and slot
machines for establishments to operate and other restrictions.
Lawmakers in the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, which dominates the Duma,
have long pushed for gaming halls to be located outside city limits, blaming
a surge in cases of gambling addiction on companies that control the
multibillion-dollar industry. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union,
gambling in Russia has exploded, with slot machines alone raking in an
estimated $3.6 billion last year.