Online Casino, casinos

Casinos represent quite a large financial manna for the state which can earn millions of dollars every year thanks to deductions from the gross product of gaming. Even if the economic crisis has hit the morale of the casinos whether in Macau, Las Vegas or Monaco, the state benefits from the taxes paid by the casinos. However, there is one country which is spoken about a lot in the press: Russia. In fact Moscow has decided to close thousands of casinos which proliferated on its territory and is bringing in its wake thousands of extra unemployed. Since the 1st of July at exactly midnight in Moscow, casinos became illegal and were dismantled filmed by Russian television which was invited to cover this event by the authorities. The Russian capital won't be lit up anymore by neon lights that twinkled like a christmas tree and won't ressemble anymore the casinos of Las Vegas. One has to go back to the fall of the USSR to see casinos and other gaming establishments grow like mushrooms and to see the oligarques make a fortune in the space of a few years like Arcady Gaydamak, Roman Abramovitch and many other “nababs”, who took control of petrol, gas and the world of casinos. At this time, gaming establishments invaded Moscow, which had as many slot machines as all the casinos on the Strip together, that is to say there was a gaming invasion in the Russian capital. Not less than 100,000 one armed bandits were in full swing in Moscow. The decision to go to war against gambling comes from deputies who wanted to rid Moscow of this vice which has gripped many Muscovites. Also the mafia, organised crime and fiscal fraud are arguments used by the anti- casino deputies, who had to battle to get this law accepted. In fact the present prime minister Vladimir Putin and the ex-president of Russia proposed this law in 2006 and it was adopted after several refusals.

A race against the clock then started for the Moscow casinos. The casinos had three years in which to change. This was the case for the Storm International group which invested in Mexico and in Germany. Even though casinos have been declared “outlaws” in Moscow, it doesn't mean that Russia has said “Niet” to gaming. Fans of slot machines, roulette, baccarat, poker, blackjack and other casino games have to travel many kilometres to engage in their passion. Four main centres will be created in Russia for gaming:

- Kaliningrad,
- Krasnodar,
- Altai ( near Mongolia),
- Vladivostok.

These massive projects involve huge work similar to the Olympic Games the only exception being that it will be private funds that will finance these large sites. But there is a strong chance that Moscow will again see a huge growth in dens and other clandestine gaming establishments from which the state won't get a single centime into its coffers from these illegal establishments which will see a growth in players addicted to gambling. It's still too early to know if this measure of closing the casinos in Moscow is a good idea or not,  let's meet up again in a year's time to review the situation. To be continued...

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