Thoughts 27 Jan 2007 07:04 pm
Russian Gambling
The Russians may not have invented gambling, but it’s a national obsession. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the rapid westernization of Russia, they not only have Oligarks (billionaires), they have Las Vegas style casinos.
The fronts of these casinos may look like Vegas, complete with Neon signs, but the attitude on the inside tends to be serious, of course that could be because the joints are full of Russians.
This is a $7.5 billion dollar business, that employs thousands, but now, spurred on by the Kremlin, the Russian parliament has passed a law which will force all casinos and slot machine arcades to close down over the next two years.
Instead gambling is to be confined within four special zones in different parts of the country, all outside the cities. The government is very deliberately aiming to separate the population from the casinos. They’re trying to deal with gambling addiction, but the customers will not only travel to these outlying casinos, just like americans travel to indian casinos, they’ll gamble online.
At least one casino owner says that his next destination will probably be India.