"Sochi Casino and Resort is a project witha unique concept for Russia in the spirit ofthe best casinos ofLas Vegas,” the firm added. According to Sputnik International’s report, the venue includes a casino, food and beverage outlets and a theatre.
In July 2009, the Russian government had closed down all the country’s then-existing casinos and electronic casino game halls. In 2010, the federal authoritiesidentified four specific zones in the country that would be allowed to offer casino gaming: Azov City in the Krasnodar region; Primorye near the Pacific port of Vladivostok; Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea coast; and Altai in Siberia. In 2014, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing the establishment of additional gambling zones: in Sochi –whichhosted the 2014 Winter Olympics –and in the Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea that Russia annexed from the neighbouring country of Ukraine in March 2014.
Last year, the Russian government announced it would be shutting down the Azov City gaming zone by 2019. The reported aim is to concentrate gaming operations in Sochi. According to media reports, casinos are tobe allowed in some areas of Sochi’s former Olympic park.
"The infrastructure built in Sochi due to the recent Winter Olympics held there is significant and would support tourism growth,” Jonathan Galaviz, partner at consultancy firm Global Market Advisors LLC, told GGRAsia in 2014.
According to the head of Russia’s Federal Tourism Agency, Evgeniy Kudelya, Sochi’s gambling area will help address the issue of fluctuation in seasonal demand facing the region’s tourism industry.
Source: GMB / GGR Asia
