Russia authorises casinos in Crimea and in Sochi

On Wednesday, July 23, the Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a law to authorise the creation of zones in Crimea and Sochi in which casinos will be legal.
These regions are now the fifth and the sixth zone in which gambling is legal, since the national prohibition five years ago was put in place.
The authors of the legislation claim that the gaming areas are expected to attract additional investments for both regions, to create new jobs, and to strengthen the regional budget.
We have already talked about the project in the news article with the name: Russia plans to open casinos in Crimea.

In Crimea

The territories of the Crimean peninsula have recently been annexed by Russia.
They have been emerging as a popular holiday destination for decades.
They have welcomed stars and many prime ministers of the Soviet era as guests.
Before the gambling ban, Crimea had a particularly fruitful market for gambling, and offered more than 250 establishments.
The new law will therefore help to revive this old industry.
The authorities believe that this region should be able to compete directly with Macao, Monaco or Las Vegas.
At the moment the limits for the gaming area in Crimea have not been established, but they should not exceed an area of 50 to 100 ha.
The executive authorities of the region will be responsible for the zones.
The Acting Chief Sergey Sergey Aksyonov mentioned that he thinks very highly of the area around Yalta, which is a popular cultural and tourist destination of the peninsula, and located at the Black Sea.
The gaming areas should become the driving force to stimulate revenues of the sector.

In Sochi

The country also outlined plans to develop a similar area in Sochi, where the Olympic Winter games 2014 will be hosted.
According to many experts, tourism should continue to grow in the city, and at least one of the venues will be used for the FIFA World Cup 2018 that will be held in Russia.

The other zones

Crimea and Sochi are the next areas to join the existing four areas in Russia where land based casinos are legal.
These are located in: Altai, Maritime Territory, the Kaliningrad region, and an area at the border between the Krasnodar territory and Rostov.