Konstantin Shestakov, director of tourism in Russia’s Primorsky Territory, has announced that taxes from the state’s two casinos, Tigre de Cristal and Shambala, have already covered the government’s investment in the infrastructure that supports them.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, Primorsky has invested about RUB1.93 billion (US$25.5 million) in infrastructure in the Primorye gaming zone, and expects to collect in excess of RUB2 billion (US$26.5 million) by the end of this year.
For several years, Tigre de Cristal was the sole operating casino in the market, which was designed to host a cluster of casino resorts. It opened in October 2015, and is majority-owned by Hong Kong-listed Summit Ascent Holdings, a subsidiary of Suncity Group Holdings. Locally-owned Shambala opened in late 2020.
“Based on the results of the project development in 2020, the most significant event was the commissioning of the second facility on the territory of the gambling zone—the Shambala complex,” Shestakov said.
“Thanks to this, the total number of people employed within the framework of the gambling zone project was almost 1,500, not counting the jobs created in related industries.
“For the entire period since the beginning of the implementation of the project Primorye, the amount of tax and other deductions will be more than RUB2 billion rubles by the end of 2021, of which more than RUB1.6 billion goes directly to the budget of Primorye.”
Two more casinos are scheduled to open in the coming year: Russian-owned Diamond Fortune and a project by NagaCorp. “We have fulfilled and are fulfilling all the obligations assumed by the Primorsky Territory in full,” Shestakov said. “Now the main task facing the government of the region and the Krai Development Corp. is to open new land plots for our investors.”
