Once upon a time in Russia there was an old man and a cow. Times were difficult and food was short for both man and beast. The unfortunate cow became a walking bag of bones and ceased to give milk, so the old man decided he must sell the animal for whatever he could get. Along came a young man with a fine conceit in his own abilities who decided he would help the old man get a good price for the skeletal creature. Approaching a rich man of his acquaintance, the young man painted a glowing but well varnished picture of all the virtues the cow possessed: excellent milker, fine disposition, excellent pedigree, etc. The rich man, convinced by the young man’s promotion of the animal, reached in his pocket for his purse of gold coins but the old man said, “Such a fine cow I must keep for myself.”

It was a short press release emitted on the day that EELEX 2008 opened its doors to the gaming industry. September 9 from Moscow came the Unicum statement that the annual gaming trade show had been organised without permission from the show owner and had been cancelled earlier in the year. An immediate response was to visit the EELEX website, but all was as normal with no mention of cancellation or any other comment. A quick check with a Russian colleague drew a blank.

The statement continued with an apology for any inconvenience or misleading statements caused by the situation and said that exhibition company SMILE- EXPO was holding the event without permission from owner Unicum Group. It concluded by saying that the group continued to develop its business activities including the organisation of EELEX 2009. Exactly one week after the Unicum announcement came a press release from Smile-Expo.

The Smile press release and an article translated from the Russian on Unicum co-owner Boris Belotserkovsky shed further light on the situation, albeit in somewhat quaint English and the suspicion they were transcribed not completely accurately by a secretary who knew not what he/she wrote. On 16 September Smile-Expo published a document that declared, “In connection with publications apeared in mass-media and tainting reputation of "Smile-Expo" company and its exibition progect EELEX, the company considers necessary to utter folowing declaration:

EELEX show was organized according to agreement No 10/01/08 dated 10.01.08 with the structure of Mr Belotserkovsky (there are confirmatory documents). Because of restructuring "Unicum" company, the Customer, Mr Belotserkovsky has refused to meet obligations. "Smile-Expo" company filed lawsuit against the Customer for charging solution.”

The article by Valentina Yakovleva, which can be read in full on the EELEX website, comments that Boris Belotserkovsky is attempting to return to the gambling business after having said in an interview that it gave him heartburn and he was leaving it. According to the article an official agreement was signed in August 2008 on the dissolution of Unicum Gaming and the company ceased to carry out its obligations. Belotserkovsky branched out into payment terminals, vending equipment and growing turf.

Speculating that the lawn business with the Moscow government as the municipal consumer of the product could be less than profitable, Yakovleva comments that although Belotserkovsky had said the new Russian gambling law was not workable and he was leaving the Russian gambling market, he evidently decided to get back in the game. She finishes: It is interesting, does he need such cow? Furthermore that the businessman has already grown the grass.” (E-09.25.08)

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