All indications are that the Russian gambling industry is facing an uphill battle to regain, even in part, the momentum lost with the enactment of the new federal gaming law last Sunday. The minimum area now required for a casino to continue in business is 800 sq m and for a slots operation 100 sq m with at least 50 gaming machines. To obtain a new licence a company must also have assets of nearly US$23 million. Worse is to come when, in 2009, the only legal gambling operations in Russia will be in the four designated gaming zones. All over Russia many existing gaming operations have been closed down.

Before the Russian State Duma passed the anti gambling bill last December, the gaming industry had witnessed a phenomenal expansion. Major gaming companies were involved in increasing their presence in the Russian market and home grown manufacturing companies were mushrooming. The future looked bright and the Russian gaming fair EELEX was a ‘must’ for operators, service providers and manufacturers, attracting a huge contingent of gaming industry professionals to the chilly greyness of Moscow in December.

It may be that this rapid increase in gambling opportunity sowed the seeds of its own destruction. Poor regulation that had allowed gaming machines at transport terminals, municipal institutions, temporary constructions and along practically every city street has created a negative image of the gaming industry for many ordinary people. A recent national opinion poll indicates that 65% of Russians dislike the industry and that most of these are in favour of the restrictions. 32% consider that all gambling should be banned.

With this amount of anti-gambling feeling it is hardly surprising that the new federal law had an easy passage. Some enterprising Russian gaming companies had seen the writing on the wall and already sought new markets, particularly in Latin America, but for the moment at least it seems that business in Russia is on hold. Whether the development of casino resorts in the four gambling zones will re-energise the gaming industry remains to be seen. For diverse reasons the odds are not looking good, but then there are those who enjoy betting against the odds. (E-07.05.07)

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