Crimea chooses gambling zone location, Primorye opening date slips

Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov told Russian radio station Russkaya Sluzhba Novostey that the location of the Crimean gaming zone has finally been determined and will be situated on the coast in an area called the Big Yalta.

Aksyonov added that a plan for the zone had been prepared and that all the necessary documents for its functioning would be adopted in September this year.

"We have investors who are ready to administer this gaming area, they are also ready to sign [relevant] agreements at the end of this month. In my opinion, everything is advancing fast, it just was not a priority project for which it was necessary to throw all the forces, there were also some nuances in terms of funding. Today, these issues are resolved, " he said, noting that in early September a public hearing would be held on the subject.

He also said that the development of the zone had been held back due to the problem of transport as foreign gamblers cannot travel to the peninsula by plane due to Western sanctions.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the opening of the first casino in the Primorye gambling zone has been pushed back again, Kommersant reported.

Summit Ascent's Tigre de Cristal will now open its doors on Sept. 1st instead of the planned August 28th.

Despite the ongoing delays, the head of the Primorye Territory tourism department Konstantin Shestakov said the zone had already attracted over $2.2 billion dollars in investments, which is much more than was initially expected.

The weakness of the Russian ruble is also spurring Chinese visitation to the zone, with Primorye Governor Vladimir Miklushevskiy saying numbers have increased two fold. He didn’t give specific figures.

 

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