Altay gaming zone to be possibly replaced with Moscow region Ramenskoye
The “Commersant” newspaper has reported today, “Altay will be possibly replaced with Moscow region Ramenskoye, and instead of Kaliningrad it will be allowed to relocate gaming tables to Pskov region”.
The newspaper goes on saying that “A “Commersant” source close to the Kremlin states that last Saturday “individuals” from the gambling industry “went to the top to talk about gaming zones” (according to the industry legislation, from July 2009 all Russian gambling facilities will be allowed to operate only in four zones – Kaliningrad, Altay and Primorie regions and on the border between Rostov and Krasnodar regions). According to the source, the negotiations were held at the level of Head of Presidential Administration Sergey Sobyanin. However, the Administration press service does not know anything about the meeting, though they can not deny it. A high-ranked Kremlin official said that “meetings on lawmaking activity” are usually held by Mr Sobyanin on Mondays, but the need might have been whatever. Representatives of major gambling holdings were reluctant to confess that they were those “individuals”. Meanwhile most of them note that such a meeting “might have taken place” because unofficial negotiations of gaming barons had started as early as in spring.
As IA “Amitel” has already reported, it is proposed to set up the Altay gaming zone on the territory of Smolenski district, 22 km away from Solonovka village. According to the head of the regional Economics Bureau, Mikhail Shchetinin, it is an advantageous location: there is federal-level Belokurikha Resort and a special economic zone of tourism and recreation type in the neighbourhood.
IA “Amitel”