Moscow Changes Gambling Rules - Sunday 27th of November 2005
Moscow City Duma passed yesterday, November 23, 2005, a bill on Gambling Business Facilities in Moscow, whereby the gambling halls should be located at least 100 meters from the educational institutions and no game machines could be installed in housing dwellings, state offices, hospitals, stores or supermarkets. This move of the Moscow Duma signals redistribution of gambling business has started in Moscow with only the large players expected to survive.
Never shelving the gambling bill, Moscow Duma’s deputies passed it in the second and in the third readings Wednesday. The bill that was submitted to the Moscow Duma in summer is targeted at putting an end to the uncontrolled growth of game machines’ number and at enabling municipal authorities to win back control over the Moscow gambling.
The gambling in Russia is, first of all, the lucrative business of game machines, which is forecasted to reach $4.5 billion or 85 percent of the $5.3-billion aggregate turnover estimated for 2005. The market is really booming, covering nearly 1 percent of the GDP now.
There are 360,000 game machines in Russia. Two companies of Moscow – Jackpot that is close to Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Vulcan-owner Ritzio Entertainment Group - control 30 percent of the market. Taken separately, Moscow has as much as 56 casinos, more than 2,000 playing halls and over 67,000 game machines. The game machine turnover exceeds $1 billion on year.
At least a third of nearly 70,000 legally registered game machines will be dismantled once the bill takes effect, the experts say.
The next target of the city’s deputies is the bill on promotion. According to Duma’s deputy Andrey Metelsky, the legislators are set to amend that bill, imposing certain restrictions on casino business. In addition, the deputies are likely to advocate concentration of such facilities in one and the same place – the so-called Las Vegas of Moscow.
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