The streets may not be paved with gold but it seems that the gaming venues of Greece and Russia may well be carpeted in it. There are phenomenal earnings to be made, according to recent figures, in both places.

Not far from Athens is Loutraki, a city that has a casino with 70 gaming tables and 700 slot machines. It has been in operation since the mid-90s, when an Israeli group won a tender issued by the Greek government. They joined forces with the local municipality in a deal that gives the municipality an increasing share of the operation until it takes over completely after 50 years.

The Loutraki Casino employs over 1100 people and on any one day will see nearly 2,500 visitors through their doors. On average the casino will make around €540,000 every night, which gave it an operating profit of €29.4 million for the first six months of 2004, and net profits of €15.3 million. The gaming public is almost entirely Greek – only 7% are foreigners – and the Greek government extracts a €12.5 fee from every casino visitor.

Gambling in Russia was outlawed not so long ago but around the time that the Loutraki Casino was opening in Greece hundreds of casinos opened in Russia to cater for the business elite. Nowadays gambling is available to everyone and slot machine numbers have rocketed. At the turn of the century there were around 12,500 machines in the country but now this number has risen to some 250,000. Slot machine manufacturers from Australia, Asia and America are already breaking into the Russian markets, and marketing games specially geared to Russian players.

At the moment operators in Moscow pay a flat-rate tax of $130 per machine per month. As each machine will probably make between $700 and $1,000 per month, it is easy to see how the slot machines will make over $2 billion in revenue this year. A gaming licence to operate machines involves a one-off payment of $45 – little wonder that Moscow is ringing to the music of the machines. Somewhat belatedly the Russian parliament is debating a law to tighten licensing and increase the taxes payable, which should leave the field to the big operators.

As all the huge revenues generated by the slot machines comes from only 4% of Russians who play them, Russia must be a mouth-watering prospect for the future. Should the nascent gaming industry become properly regulated and policed then the big-name casino resorts should soon follow. The Kremlin itself would make a magical backdrop to rival any Treasure Island or Caesars.

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