Azov City casinos to close this year
Additional details have emerged about Shambala’s planned integrated resort in Russia’s Primorye entertainment zone, near the Far East port city of Vladivostok.
The new complex will include a casino with 500 electronic gaming machines and 50 gaming tables as well as a five-star hotel with 270 rooms and a nightclub. According to Asia Gaming Brief, total investment in the project is estimated to reach RUB 8 billion (US$128.6 million). Design work on the project is set to begin in September.
The concept was developed by the international architectural company Aedas, which designed the Venetian Macau and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. To complete the project, the investor needs two free plots of land, the Development Company of Primorski Krai said on its website.
Russian businessman Maxim Smolentsev, head of Shambala, presented his plans for the complex to Primorye Territory Governor Andrey Tarasenko earlier this year and took part in a land auction at the end of May.
Shambala has been a player in the Russian gaming industry since the early 2000s. Its casinos in Azov City casinos will be shut down at the end of the year on orders from the federal government, which has chosen to close the gaming zone in that region, AGB reported.
Meanwhile, there are eight unoccupied land lots up for grabs in the Primorye zone. Several investors have reportedly expressed interest in developing properties there. Seven investment deals have been made to date, but only one casino is up and running: Summit Ascent’s Tigre de Cristal, which opened in October 2015.
Adjusted property EBITDA for Oriental Regent, which operates the IR, grew 32 percent in 2017 to HK$173.7 million (US$22 million). Total revenue rose 46 percent to $470.8 million, with the VIP business leading the way. Rolling chip turnover in 2017 was $18.8 billion, up 33 percent.
Tigre de Cristal was voted the best in Russia in the 2018 World Travel Awards, beating out three Radisson properties and two other resorts. Phase II of development is expected to put the focus on non-gaming attractions.
“We are considering the possibility of creating a golf club and a ski resort. These are the kinds of entertainment that will allow you to relax at the resort Primorye all year round,” said COO Stylianos Tsifetakis at a presentation in March. “In addition, our new Taiwan shareholder plans to create one of the largest shopping centers in the Far East located in the IER Primorye.”
Other projects currently in development in the economic zone are Naga Vladivostok, being built by Cambodian firm NagaCorp, and the Selena resort, now in development by Russia’s Diamond Fortune Prim.
