Russian Lawmakers Give First Nod to Crackdown on Casinos

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Russian Lawmakers Give First Nod to Crackdown on Casinos On Thursday, Nov.16, the State Duma, lower house of the Russian parliament, gave unanimous approval to the bill that would effectively ban gambling in Russia, except in four special zones, from 2009. The legislation, however, is expected to undergo fairly drastic changes before it passes a second reading, probably later this year. “There is no doubt the bill will change beyond recognition,” Yevgeny Kovtun, a spokesman for the Gaming Business Association, told the Moscow Times. The bill, submitted by President Putin last month, got through its first reading by a vote of 440-0, with one abstention. Under the bill, small slot-machine halls and casinos will be closed next July, when a minimum gambling age of 18 and other restrictions come into effect. Duma deputies also stated that the legislation must clarify how the four gambling zones would be set up, as the current version of the bill does not make clear how many of the zones would be established inside residential areas. Crucially, it also fails to set out a process for creating the zones, although it is known that five-year licenses would be granted for operation inside the zones. The exact locations of the four zones have not been chosen as yet, but Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said two zones will be in European Russia, one in Siberia and one in the Far East. The first zone will be created in July 2007. Moscow does not plan to apply for the status of a gambling zone, according to Moscow’s deputy mayor, Iosif Ordzhonikidze, which spells the end for the 537 gaming establishments licensed to operate in the city. Many think that the new laws will see the $ 5 billion-a-year gambling industry shrink by as much as 70 percent. Under the new measures, slot-machine halls smaller than 100 square meters and casinos smaller than 800 square meters would be forced to close. The issue is thought to be closely linked to the Duma elections, scheduled for December next year, and the presidential vote, scheduled for 2008. Gambling is seen as an easy vote-winner by some politicians..

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Russia: CHRONOLOGY DECEMBER 1993 to FEBRUARY 1995
Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets file:///C:/Documents and Settings/brendelt/Desktop/temp rir/CHRONO... Français Home Contact Us Help Search canada.gc.ca Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets Home Issue Paper RUSSIA CHRONOLOGY DECEMBER 1993 TO FEBRUARY 1995 July 1995 Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis of publicly available information, analysis and comment. All sources are cited. This document is not, and does not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard to conditions in the country surveyed or conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. For further information on current developments, please contact the Research Directorate. Table of Contents GLOSSARY Political Organizations and Government Structures Political Leaders 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CHRONOLOGY 1993 1994 1995 3. APPENDICES TABLE 1: SEAT DISTRIBUTION IN THE STATE DUMA TABLE 2: REPUBLICS AND REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION MAP 1: RUSSIA 1 of 58 9/17/2013 9:13 AM Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets file:///C:/Documents and Settings/brendelt/Desktop/temp rir/CHRONO... MAP 2: THE NORTH CAUCASUS NOTES ON SELECTED SOURCES REFERENCES GLOSSARY Political Organizations and Government Structures [This glossary is included for easy reference to organizations which either appear more than once in the text of the chronology or which are known to have been formed in the period covered by the chronology. The list is not exhaustive.] All-Russia Democratic Alternative Party. Established in February 1995 by Grigorii Yavlinsky.( OMRI 15 Feb.
[Show full text]
Gambling in Russia
Gambling in Russia Context, markets, and policies Virve Marionneau CEACG, University of Helsinki The Political Economy of Gambling (PolEG) project SNSUS Tampere, June 5th 2019 12.1.2 1 www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto 012 Outline 1) Historical background 2) Policies and reforms 3) Markets and actors, a political economy perspective 4) Conclusions and summary www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto Historical background (1) • Popularity of gambling in tsarist Russia (18th and 19th century) • 1917 Revolution: Bolsheviks declared gambling a bourgeois activity: ban of gambling houses. Only horse racing and the lottery (or underground) • 1976: Sportloto to fund Soviet sports • 1988: EGMs in Intourist hotels • 1989: First Soviet casinos in Tallinn and Moscow. www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto Historical background (2): After USSR • 1991: The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the advent of capitalism ➢ mushrooming of casino and EGM arcades: 6,300 licensed operations by 2006, about 60 % located in Moscow and St Petersburg. ➢ uncontrolled lottery markets: about 3,000 lotteries by 2008. ➢ increased problems, little state control over licensing or taxation www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto Moscow in 2005: ’A casino every 100 meters’. CC license / Paul L. Dineen www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto Policies and reforms • Gambling reforms: ➢ EGMs and casinos: ban in 2006 across the Russian territory, except 4 gambling zones. Federal law Effective as of July 1st 2009. ➢ Private lotteries banned in 2014 -> State lotteries (2) ➢ Bookmaking licensed market since 2014 ➢ Online gambling: Also banned in the 2006 law. Only national lotteries and licenced bookmakers. • Impacts of the restrictions ➢ Tax revenue initially decreased in both federal and regional budgets ➢ Opinion polls suggest decreases in gambling participation.
[Show full text]
Prohibitions and Policy in the Global Gaming Industry: a Genealogy and Media Content Analysis of Gaming Restrictions in Contemporary Russia Pavel V
Prohibitions and Policy in the Global Gaming Industry: A Genealogy and Media Content Analysis of Gaming Restrictions in Contemporary Russia Pavel V. Vasiliev Bo J. Bernhard Abstract In an era of widespread gaming expansion, Russia's recent decision to contract its gaming industry stands out as a global anomaly. This article explores factors informing the 2009 restriction of gambling venues in Russia to four remote zones. After a brief discussion of gambling prohibition history across cultures, a genealogical analysis of the origins and development of gaming laws in Russia follows. The authors then use a qualitative content analysis technique to examine the rationales for this contraction that were expressed in Russian news outlets between 2003 and 2010 - the period when the new restrictions were debated, voted on, and enacted. This analysis revealed four major rationales cited by the media: 1) alleged ties between gambling and organized crime, 2) social cost themes associated with addiction and related problems with youth in Russia, 3) gambling's enforcement of class boundaries, and 4) the protection of a Russian national identity. The results help us better understand anti-gambling arguments generally, and the unique dynamics of Russia's crackdown in particular. Keywords: Russia, gaming policy, gaming industry, community relations, ethnographic content analyses, anti-gambling movements Introduction Although gambling is not as widespread a phenomenon as researchers once believed, it is fair to say that during the last twenty years we have witnessed a tremendous quantitative and qualitative expansion of the global gaming industry (Binde, 2005; Earlington, 2009; Bernhard, et al., 2009). Over the years, gambling formats have evolved dramatically, from the talus bones of hoofed animals discovered at the oldest human settlements, to the highly complex cathedrals of consumption that house modem casinos Pavel V.
[Show full text]
Problem Gambling in Russia
Problem gambling in Russia Sergei Tsytsarev, Ph.D. USA Professor of Psychology, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York HISTORY • Playing cards became available in Russia in the 17th century. Almost immediately, the Tsar’s government made it illegal. In 1649, a part of Legislation banning playing cards was listed under the title of Robbery and Stealing. Card players were supposed to be whipped and their fingers and hands could be cut off. In those cruel times, Russia was not alone in such harsh policy against gamblers. • However, later, in 18th century, during the era of Peter the Great, the first Russian emperor, the punishment for card playing was replaced with the monetary fines. HISTORY • In 1761, the empress Ekaterina II (known as Catherine the Great) had made a distinction between legitimate (games of commerce) and non‐legitimate (games of chance) gambling. It was allowed to play games where the victory depends not only on the “fortune”, but also upon the skills of the players, such as bridge. It was acceptable to play in the rich noble estates and it was prohibited to make huge bets. In the Royal Palace, card games took place almost daily. It was forbidden to play roulette, shtoss, spot (pip) –the analogue of Black Jack –as well as lottery, and betting on horse races. Gamblers were to pay a special tax to support the Fund for orphanages. HISTORY • In the 19th century, gambling had become an epidemic phenomenon in Russia. All kinds of games had spread out and were common among many categories of citizens. However, higher and lower social classes played in different places and rarely mixed in new establishments, casinos or clubs.
[Show full text]
Novomatic-Ag 2009.Pdf
Kapitel Annual Report 2009 Annual Report 2009 1 NOVOMATIC Group Global Operations Technology/Production sites Sales markets NOVOMATIC AG Markets with own gaming operations Casino Systems Holding AG Markets with own gaming operations ACE Casino Holding AG Markets with own gaming operations 4 Annual Report 2009 Kapitel Annual Report 2009 5 Organizational Chart* NOVOMATIC Group of Companies ACE Casino Holding AG NOVOMATIC AG C.S.C. Casino Systems Holding AG (Switzerland) (100%) (Austria) (Switzerland) (100%) (directly 92% and indirectly 8%) Operation of/investments in European Data Project s.r.o. (100%) Swiss Casinos Austrian Gaming Industries GmbH Production facilities Komorany Spielbank Mendrisio (100%) (100%): and Rousinov Spielbank Locarno (54,5%) most important production company/Austria Operation of gaming facilities in the Czech Republic Spielbank Bad Ragaz (33,3%) NSM-Löwen Entertainment GmbH Operation of gaming machines (100%): in the casino and AWP market production and sales in Germany and other countries ATSI S.A. (Advanced Technology Systems International) (100%) Crown Technologies GmbH (93%): Technology center/Cooperation with the Uni- production and sales in Germany versity of Krakow/Poland and other countries ASTRA Games Holdings Ltd. (90%): AWP Production and sales in the UK and other countries SIM Spielbanken Investitions-, Beteiligungs- und Management GmbH & Co. KG (49%): casino management in Germany HTM Hotel und Tourismus Management GmbH (100%): including Hotel Admiral am Kurpark in Baden/Austria Admiral Sportwetten
[Show full text]
Administrative-Law Regulation of Not-Gambling Games in Soviet Russia Solved, Also, Through Financial Investments
Universal Decimal Classification 351.82 Tsakoev A. A. ADMINISTRATIVE-LAW REGULATION OF NOT-GAMBLING GAMES IN SOVIET RUSSIA Tsakoev Artur The article provides the historical Akhsarbekovich, and legal analysis of the administrative- Deputy Chairman of the Su law regulation of lotteries in the first dec preme Court of the Republic ades of Soviet power. It is noted that the of North Ossetia-Alania, As presence of the established by union state sociate professor of the Crimi ban to carry one or another games had no nal Law Department in Vladi effect on the economic realities of the RS kavkaz Institute of Manage FSR. Stresses the importance of a lottery ment, Vladikavkaz city. as a source of income for the State. There is argued that the current legislation pro vided the right to organize lotteries only for state institutions or ones close to the state. Keywords: gambling and not-gam Administrative-law regulation of not-gambling games in Soviet Russia bling games, lottery, ban on lotteries, voluntary nature of lotteries. Initially, the Soviet government attempted a total ban of all games, but soon enough it became clear also that human passions could not be regulated by the norms of law, and that it was hard to find sources of income comparable with the income from the games. Certainly, in the first post-revolutionary decades, histor ical-political situation was not easy - were revealed a lot of social problems to be solved, also, through financial investments. In the light of the need to replenish state coffer Russia abandoned the idea of the absolute eradication of games and allowed some games through legalizing them.
[Show full text]
Recent Research in the Socio-Cultural Domain of Gaming and Gambling : an Annotated Bibliography and Critical Overview
University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Alberta Gambling Research Institute Alberta Gambling Research Institute 2000-12 Recent research in the socio-cultural domain of gaming and gambling : an annotated bibliography and critical overview McGowan, Virginia; Droessler, Judith; Nixon, Gary; Grimshaw, Misty Alberta Gaming Research Institute http://hdl.handle.net/1880/355 technical report Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca Recent Research In the Socio-Cultural Domain Of Gaming and Gambling: An Annotated Bibliography And Critical Overview Virginia McGowan, Ph.D. Judith Droessler, Ph.D., M.L.I.S. Gary Nixon, Ph.D., C.Psych. Misty Grimshaw School of Health Sciences and University Library The University of Lethbridge Lethbridge, Alberta For The Alberta Gaming Research Institute Edmonton, Alberta December, 2000 Suggested Citation: McGowan, V., Droessler, J., Nixon, G., & Grimshaw, M. (2000). Recent research in the socio-cultural domain of gaming and gambling: An annotated bibliography and critical overview. Edmonton, AB: Alberta Gaming Research Institute. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This annotated bibliography and critical overview of the scientific literature in the socio-cultural domain of gaming and gambling was supported by a grant received from the Alberta Gaming Research Institute (AGRI) in July 2000. Its purpose is to systematically identify and critically analyze the relevant scientific, descriptive, and policy-oriented literature in this area with the aim of providing a resource that will inform future research and development in gaming and gambling studies. Accordingly, this review constitutes a source document on gaming and gambling studies produced in the latter part of the twentieth century in English- and French-speaking countries.
[Show full text]
The Link Between Russian Organized Crime and Nuclear-Weapons Proliferation: Fighting Crime and Ensuring International Security
COMMENT THE LINK BETWEEN RUSSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME AND NUCLEAR-WEAPONS PROLIFERATION: FIGHTING CRIME AND ENSURING INTERNATIONAL SECURITY WENDY L. MSKY* 1. INTRODUCTION In December 1991, the Soviet Union, the nation that had opposed the United States in a monumental cold war lasting for more than fifty years, abruptly collapsed. The world looked on in astonishment as the Soviet empire, with its history of communist dictatorship and military produc- tion, disintegrated virtually overnight. Hope and optimism that the Cold War had finally ended accompanied the fall of the Soviet regime.1 People everywhere believed that the risk of global nuclear annihilation existing throughout the Cold War had at last been eliminated.2 Never before, * J.D. Candidate, 1996, University of Pennsylvania Law School; B.A., 1993, Princeton University. With love, I dedicate this Comment to my mother and father, Marcia and Burton Mirsky, for their love and insqiration. James E. Goodby, the U.S. Negotiator on Safe and Secure Dismantlement of Nuclear Weapons, noted that "[tlhe independence of new states and the end of the confrontation between East and West were hopeful events. The end of the Cold War and the burden it placed on peoples everywhere could only be a welcome historical turning point." James E. Goodby, Averting Nuclear Chaos:The Tasks Before Us, 4 DEPT ST. DISPATCH 704, 704 (1993) (publishing the Address Before the UN Symposium on Security Disarmament and Confidence-Building in the CIS Context given on September 28, 1993). 2 To nations on both sides of the ideological divide, the end of the Cold War signalled the dawn of a new era in which cooperation and (749) Published by Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository, 2014 750 U.
[Show full text]
Legal Regulation of Esports and Online Gambling in the Republic of Estonia
TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Faculty of Social Sciences Tallinn Law School Toomas Karulaas Legal regulation of eSports and online gambling in the Republic of Estonia. Master’s thesis HAJM instructor: Ph.D Kaido Künnapas Tallinn 2019 I declare that the I have compiled the paper independently and all works, important standpoints and data by other authors have been properly referenced and the same paper has not been previously been presented for grading. The document length is 17055 words from the introduction to the end of conclusion. Toomas Karulaas …………………………… (signature, date) Student code: 178785HAJM Student e-mail address: [email protected] Supervisor: Kaido Künnapas, PhD: The paper conforms to requirements in force …………………………………………… (signature, date) Chairman of the Defence Committee: Permitted to the defence ………………………………… (name, signature, date) 2 Abstract The aim of this work is to find the answer to the question of whether it is necessary to improve the legal regulation of eSports in the context of the gambling law, because eSports is currently subject to the criteria of gambling in accordance with the established law and whether separate regulation of eSports is necessary in Estonia and confirm that such an approach will greatly contribute to the development of this industry in the Republic of Estonia. The author of the research is studying developments in different locations with the aim of offering eSports and online gambling at the moment the most reasonable regulation. Also, the author puts eSports and online gambling in today's legal environment in Estonia and analyzes what are their main differences. The author mainly used research writing qualitative-systematic and comparative methods.
[Show full text]
The Topical Issues of Public Law Scientific-Practical Informational Edition Registered in the ROSKOMNADZOR
The Topical Issues of Public Law SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL INFORMATIONAL EDITION REGISTERED IN THE ROSKOMNADZOR. REGISTRATION NUMBER - EL. NO. FS 77-48634, 20.02.2012. IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY. THE MAGAZINE HAS BEEN PUBLISHED SINCE JANUARY, 2012. No. 11 (11) 2012 Editor in chief of the magazine: Glavnyj redaktor zhurnala: Kizilov V.V., c.j.s., Omsk Kizilov V.V., k.ju.n., Omsk Chairman of the editorial board: Predsedatel' redaktsionnogo soveta: Denisenko V.V., d.j.s., Rostov-on-Don Denisenko V.V., d.ju.n., Rostov-na-Donu The editorial boar: Redaktsionnyj sovet: Shhukina T.V., d.j.s., Lipetsk Shhukina T.V., d.ju.n., Lipetsk Kositsin I.A., c.j.s., Omsk Kositsin I.A., k.ju.n., Omsk Ertel' A.G., c.j.s., c.e.s. Krasnodar Ertel' A.G., k.ju.n., k.e.n. Krasnodar The editorial staff: Redaktsija: Rubtsov D.V. Rubtsov D.V. Markar'jan A.V., Engels Markar'jan A.V., Engel's Layout and translation into English: Verstka i perevod na angl. jazyk: Kabulin L.A., Engels Kabulin L.A., Engel's Editorial office's telephone: +7 (8453) 75-04-49 Telefon redaktsii: +7 (8453) 75-04-49 Address for correspondence: Adres dlja korrespondentsii: 79 11th Ljubinskaja st., Omsk, Russia, Omsk, ul. 11-aja Ljubinskaja, 79, Zip-code: 644073 644073 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] The issue allowed for posting on the web site Vypusk dopushhen k razmeshheniju na sajte on the 11 of January 2013 11.01.2013 Total or partial reproduction of materials without written permission of the authors of articles or editorial is prosecuted © Kizilov V.V.
[Show full text]
The Gambling and Betting Regulatory System in Russia
DE BERTI JACCHIA FRANCHINI FORLANI The gambling and betting regulatory system in Russia 17/02/2020 BETTING AND GAMING, RUSSIA Roberto A. Jacchia Alisa Pestryakova casinos and slot machines created his article provides an overview of the compulsive gambling problems among T the population with modest income and system and main restrictions and eventually completely changed the requirements for gambling businesses in regulation of the industry by adopting the Russia. Law in 2006, which introduced a general gambling ban, with some exceptions. 1. Historical and general overview The ban on gambling in Russia became Before the adoption of the law on State effective on 01 July 2009. The first regulation of activities in the gambling special gambling zone “Azov City” in the industry (Federal Law no.244-FZ dated Krasnodar region was established in 29 December 2006, “the Law”), gambling 2010, where two companies opened activities had no territorial limitations and three casinos and invested about 5,4 bln. could be exercised almost everywhere in Rubles during 4 years. In 2014 a new Russia, especially in large cities. A gambling zone in Sochi in the Krasnodar PricewaterhouseCoopers study region was created. The Law allows only estimated the turnover of the gambling one gambling zone within the region, so industry in Russia in 2005 in an amount the “Azov City” gambling zone was of 6 bln. $. Casinos and slot machines wound up in 2018. Investors cannot were popular and supplied huge turnout claim any reimbursement of money to the industry. However, gambling invested, since Russian laws do not businesses often reported net losses and envisage any compensation in the case in that way did not meet the expectations of winding up of a special gambling zone.
[Show full text]
Alexander Kupatadze Phd Thesis
‘TRANSITIONS AFTER TRANSITIONS’: COLOURED REVOLUTIONS AND ORGANIZED CRIME IN GEORGIA, UKRAINE AND KYRGYZSTAN Alexander Kupatadze A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 2010 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1320 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License ‘Transitions after Transitions’: Coloured Revolutions and Organized Crime in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan Alexander Kupatadze In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of International Relations, University of St Andrews St Andrews, UK August 2010 I, Alexander Kupatadze, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80 thousand words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2005 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September 2006; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2005 and 2010. Date signature of candidate I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date signature of supervisor In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby.
[Show full text]