Saturday, December 23, 2006

The Moscow City Duma amended a law on Thursday that manages gambling
industry, making requirements for owners of casinos and slot-machine halls
stricter. The gambling industry is unfazed by the changes as no laws can
surpass the new federal law which nearly bans gambling in Russia in 2009.
The Moscow legislature passed the city law a day after the State Duma passed
a similar federal blueprint, moving all casinos to four gambling havens in
2009 and laying down requirements for the operation of casinos and
slot-machine halls until this time. Moscow has made the federal norms even
harsher, binding city casinos to have the area of at least 3,000 sq. meters
(800 sq. meters in the federal law) and no less than 200 sq. meters for game
arcades (100 sq. meters in the Russian law). A casino in Moscow must have at
least 30 gaming tables and slot-machine halls must have at least 60
machines. Currently 32 casinos and some 140 gambling halls in Moscow meet
these requirements, Moscow Deputy Mayor Iosif Ordzhonikidze says. The
official noted that the city budget would not suffer after some gambling
establishments are closed down because most small gambling firms evade tax
paying. Lavrentiy Gubin from Storm International which operates slot-machine
halls says that "requirements of Moscow authorities are quite feasible,
though the minimal area for casinos is probably set too high." Gambling
companies are more worried about the margin of net assets for their
companies. "Not all of the 32 casinos will be able to drive up their assets
to $23 million," Gubin noted.
Boris Belotserkovsky, co-owner of Ritzio Entertainment Group, estimates that
the Moscow law will halve the number of casinos in the city and will leave
only 25 percent of slot-machine halls working.