Experts do not know who would come to Russian Las Vegas
Owners of gambling facilities have already started planning conversion of their business. “Obviously, it will be restaurants, clubs, bowling, whatever not related to gambling. But we will not invest in admittedly dubious projects”, says deputy general director of “Europe Club” Alexey Shkatula.
It is apparent that, there being a high demand for this kind of business and a high level of profits, casinos will fall back into the shadow. “We will not manage to avoid illegal gambling, at least because none of the developed countries which ban gaming business has been able to solve the issue. It is especially dangerous in big cities where there are large groups of various ethnic layers which can create any business out of the government`s control”, said Igor Dines, a deputy of the RF State Duma and chairman of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry committee on entrepreneurship related to gaming and lotteries, in “Dialogue” program of RBC-TV.
The risk of illegal gambling can be reduced if casinos remain in the cities. Gaming business must exist in the cities at least for the categories of citizens who have been accustomed to “gambling next door” for 15 years to get used to other games. For example, to bookmakers` offices, especially popular nowadays. However, the number of slot machines being reduced, the number of bookmakers` offices will increase just slightly, believes Oleg Zhuravsky, executive director of National Bookmakers` Association. Bookmaking is mainly based on the intellectual debate between the player and the bookmaker, and only then on gambling.
Some legislators hope that the government will review its attitude to gaming business and extend the transition period. “At least the business will have the chance to change the policy with regards to the public, to preserve its future. They will have a chance to raise the issue of transition period extension to the State Duma and the government. There are quite a lot of arguments to support it. And it depends not only on the government but also on the policy of companies proper whether they will be heard or not”, assumes I. Dines.
They have already started counting losses from closure of gambling facilities in the capital city and in the regions. “This year, 7 billion rubles of gambling revenues planned in Moscow, we will probably lose about 10 billion rubles, taking into account the inflation and other factors. This amount is comparable to revenues from public transport brought in the city budget. This amount would have helped to solve a number of problems”, concedes Sergey Mitrokhin, a deputy of Moscow City Duma.
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