Russia’s Finance Ministry is proposing massive increases to the country’s gambling tax rates.
It was not certain what impact, if any, the new rates would have on the country’s sole resort casino, Lawrence Ho’s Tigre de Cristal near the Pacific coast city of Vladivostok.
But as it stands, the increases, including in a new set of regulations that passed a first reading in the national parliament last year, would raise the tax per gaming table from 50,000 rubles to 250,000 (US$800-$4,000); from RUB3000 to 15,000 per slot machine; and from RUB50,000 to 250,000 for bet processing centers run by a bookmaker or tote service.
Online bookmakers would see their tax go from RUB2.5 million to 3 million.
Land-based betting shops currently pay RUB 10,000 to 14,000.
Brokerage Union Gaming said Tigre de Cristal, controlled by Ho’s Hong Kong-listed Summit Ascent Holdings, would see its tax obligation rise from around HK$10 million a year (US$1.29 million) to around HK$20 million.
But “We do not believe the legislative changes have been finalized yet,” said the firm’s Grant Govertsen.
“Local policy can be different than national policy,” he added, noting that the Primorye region where the casino is located “establishes its own?potentially lower?tax rates that are within a band set at the federal level.”
The possibility of an increase in gaming taxes for Russia’s casino projects was mentioned in Russian media reports last year, according to industry news site GGRAsia.
