Increase in number of casinos expected in Tomsk region due to slot halls ban
The regional administration believes that the number of casinos in Tomsk region will be doubled – from 6 to 12 – by April, when the regional law on banning slot halls is coming into effect.
The officials do not think that the increase in the number of casinos is a problem because schoolchildren will not be allowed to these gambling facilities, and “citizens with low income losing their last rubles” in slot machines will not go there as well. Therefore the “protection of citizens” from extra opportunities to satisfy their gambling needs – for the sake of which the legislative campaign on restricting the gaming business has been actually launched – will be fully provided without complete elimination of law-abiding gaming business.
The regional officials vigorously report that at present two major representatives of Tomsk gambling market are declaring their intentions to convert their slot halls to casinos, and if someone decides to go on operating illegally, then the procedure of seizing slot machines from illegal gaming business has been already well-developed in Tomsk region.
However, the illegal gaming business needs a separate talk. Once there were illegal gambling facilities: when the gaming business was developing “wild”, many owners of slot machines did not use to register their property in tax authorities. There is every ground to state that illegal gambling facilities are operating at present – there isn`t a day without a message from the regions where slot machines have been banned that another underground gambling house is found. According to the world (and now domestic, too) experience, complete elimination of gaming business is impossible. It is only possible to reduce opportunities of illegal gaming operations to the minimum. As a rule, it is achieved via reasonable laws placing gambling operations within reasonable limits. And repressive measures only – to which the “transition” of all gaming business to remote “zones” can be referred as well – have never led to a desirable result.