Russia has recently authorized a long-anticipated gaming zone in the Crimea region. The country has yet to reveal more details on the project and assure a place for a new casino complex.
Details
Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, signed a document that approves the construction of the Golden Coast gambling complex in the Crimea region. The gaming zone will be placed close to Katsiveli village in the Yalta area on the Black Sea. The Crimea zone is expected to get an original casino until 2022.
The Crimea-related casino plan has been considered for more than five years. The idea emerged for the first time shortly after Russian forces annexed the Crimea territory from Ukraine. The current Russian administrator of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said:
“A large’ casino operator would soon be confirming its Crimean project aspirations.“
More About Crimea Case
After the forcible seizure of Crimea, Western nations have imposed sanctions on Russia. The European Union has recently extended the prohibition on member states which make the investment in the occupied territory of Crimea. At the same time, USA officials said that sanctions will stay in force until Russia ceases the occupation of the territory.
The planned casino project for Russian annexed territory could be facing obvious problems. Taking into consideration all sanctions, the venue is likely to be built by a Russian company. Additionally, there are interested companies from states which keep friendly relations with Russia - China and Cambodia. At the moment, Cambodia gaming company – NagaCorp – is finalizing the construction of Naga Vladivostok casino in the east Primorye gaming zone. The big opening is planned for 2020.
About Gambling in Russia
Russia has prohibited gambling activity across the country starting from 2009. At the same time, the country limited casino operators to four isolated gambling zones. After the occupation of additional territory, the country added two areas to the gambling list – Crimea and Sochi.
All of its gambling zones face serious infrastructure problems which causes issues in attracting casino investments. Crimea zone will probably suffer from a similar issue in the future. The occupied territory has only one military airport located 70 km from the casino site.
Crimea currently runs Russian sports betting shops across the area. However, two sports betting operators were recently penalized for accepting wagers from users without performing the identification check. As a result, operators paid about RUB1.5m (US$23,500 fine).
Source:
“Russia okays Crimea gaming zone, the first casino to open by 2022“, Peter Amsel, calvinayre.com, October 28, 2019.
