Gambling mania, much the same as in Russia, has been given as the reason that the Kazakhstan National Security Council yesterday passed a law to restrict all gambling to two towns from 1 January 2007. Whilst Kazakhstan, once part of the Soviet Union, is only around 27% ethnic Russian, it seems that the two countries share similar national characteristics when it comes to gambling, and that both governments are determined to make gambling less readily available to their citizens. Whether they will succeed in that aim or merely push the activity into criminal hands remains to be seen.

The Russian character has been described as being influenced by ‘dusha, sud’ba and toska’ (very loosely translated as ‘soul, destiny and melancholy’). An intrinsic part of that character is said to be avos’ which portrays the Russian way of doing something risky in the hope of a good final result. This would certainly sum up a gambler’s attitude and may, in some part, help explain why gambling and alcohol consumption have become such a large problem in the region.

The new Kazakhstan law has yet to be ratified by the Kazakh president but he is known to support a swift progression of the bill through the legislature, which is likely to approve the law. An estimated 2,200 gambling establishments must now consider the prospect of closing their operations or moving to either Kapshagai in the southwest or Shchuchinsk in the north. It is a similar story in Russia, Chechnya and Tatarstan.

The expansion of the gaming industry in the region is rapidly being reversed, but the result of the new laws will not be known for some time. The problems of excess gambling by individuals might diminish, as the governments hope, or the profits of unregulated underground operators might increase. (E-11.14.06)

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