One of four special casino zones
The first casino has opened in Russia’s newest dedicated gaming zone, one of four planned for the country.
Located in the mountain resort Gorky Gorod, the Sochi Casino and Resort was described by operator Domain LLC as an international destination “in the spirit of the best casinos of Las Vegas.” The complex includes restaurants, convention space, an entertainment venue, shops and other amenities, reported Casino.org.
In 2009, Russia outlawed gambling outside four specially designated economic zones in Azov City in the Krasnodar region; Primorye near the port city of Vladivostok; Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea; and Altai in Siberia.
Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, is in the Krasnodar region, though it’s more than 400 miles from Azov City. Last year, the Putin government said the Azov City gaming zone will be eliminated by 2019 to focus gaming operations in Sochi, which will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Russian Formula I Grand Prix.
“Tourism traffic increased significantly during the last several years and the demand for holidays in Russia and particularly in Sochi is very high,” Evgeniy Kudelya of Russia’s Federal Tourism Agency told Russian news agency TASS in December.
“Casinos will make a major contribution to the solution of the off-season problem. Despite the fact that Sochi is the most popular and one of the best resort areas in Russia, we have the off-season curve and it should be smoothed out,” he said.
Last March, Lawrence Ho’s $900 million Tigre de Cristal resort became the first casino to open in Russia’s Primorsky Krai zone near Vladivostok.
