V. Putin signed the gaming business law
On December 29th, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, signed the federal law “On state regulation of activities involved in gambling organization and arrangement and on amending some of the RF legislative regulations”, passed by the State Duma on December 20th, 2006, and approved by the Federation Council on December 27th, 2006.
According to the provisions of the law, gaming zones can not be arranged in residential areas. Meanwhile land plots included in the zones and corresponding infrastructure facilities may be owned only by the state or by a municipality. The decision on creating the zones will be taken by the RF Government upon the agreement with state authorities of an RF constituent territory. Within Russia, only 4 gaming zones may operate simultaneously. They will be situated in the following areas: in Kaliningrad, Altay and Primorie regions and on the border between Rostov and Krasnodar regions. The validity period of these zones is not limited.
Gambling institutions may be opened only in the indicated gaming zones. The ground for gambling organization and arrangement will be the license given for 5 years. The requirements for gambling operators are specified: net assets of a legal entity shall be no less than 600 mln rubles, and 100 mln rubles for bookmaking and totalizator companies. The technically installed average percentage of money winnings from a slot machine shall not be less than 90%, the public area of a casino – not less than 800 square metres, and there shall be at least 10 gaming tables; the public area of a slot location – no less than 100 square metres, and there shall be no less than 50 slot machines.
Source: Finmarket