Gambling banned in Russia

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Vladimir Putin gambling law banishes Russian casinos to Siberian exile
Russia has imposed a strict ban on gambling
Tony Halpin in Moscow

At the Metelitsa casino, the oldest private gambling house in Moscow, which opened in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union, they are packing up the card shoes and folding the gaming tables away. Across Russia thousands of others are doing the same as a gambling ban comes into force today.

Gambling is now illegal outside special zones in four remote regions under laws ordered by Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, which have cost up to half a million jobs and $1 billion (£600 million) in tax revenues. The ban spells the end of an era which witnessed an eruption of gambling fuelled by a lawless business culture in which fortunes were made and lost with dizzying speed.

“We can’t really believe it’s happening. We have had to make 1,000 people redundant,” says Ian Livingstone, the Metelitsa’s British general manager. “We were hoping with the current financial crisis that there would be some leniency for two or three years, but they didn’t do it. It’s hard to understand why this decision was made in the first place.”

As a result of the new legislation, the neon casino frontages that illuminated central Moscow’s prestigious Novy Arbat street are dark after the Metelitsa and several of more than 500 gambling venues in the capital chose to close a day early, on Monday night, to avoid possible police raids.

As the deadline to shut up shop approached, waitresses marked the Metelitsa’s demise by handing out glasses of champagne to customers who eagerly placed bets at blackjack tables and on roulette, some spraying £300 chips across the baize. Through the cigar smoke one told The Times: “I changed $2,000 into chips and I’m just enjoying myself because there’ll be no more chances after today. It’s a stupid law.”

Mr Putin insists that the measure will tackle a growing problem of gambling addiction among Russians and control an industry notorious for links with criminal gangs and moneylaundering. Critics argue that it will do the reverse, and simply drive gambling underground and into criminal control. Relentless police pressure had already forced hundreds of gambling establishments to close and Moscow city council insisted that the last 524 would shut by today. The city’s coffers stand to lose almost $200 million in annual tax revenues as a result.

Many casino operators plan to leave Russia, arguing that Government gambling zones — in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, the Altai region of Siberia, the Far East area of Primoriye and around the Sea of Azov in southern Krasnodar region — will need $40 billion in investment to turn them into the Russian equivalents of Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Monte Carlo. Mr Livingstone said that Metelitsa would examine opportunities in Kazakhstan, while others are looking to Armenia and Georgia.

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This seems a strange move, but I don't believe for a minute that it's to stop people becoming addicted to gambling.