iGaming Business – Russian president Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft bill to parliament to designate the seceded Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea as a legal gambling zone. As reported by iGaming Business last month, Russian officials were reported to be considering a proposal to introduce a gambling zone with casinos and hotels to the region.
According to the Wall Street Journal newspaper, Putin submitted the bill on Monday in the hope of pushing forward with these plans. Sergei Aksyonov, acting leader of Crimea, told the Itar-Tass news agency last week that if the bill does pass then the region plans to create a specific gambling centre rather than to allow gambling everywhere in Crimea. The gambling proposal is the latest in a number of efforts that Russia has made to incorporate the peninsula since it seceded from Ukraine in March and has put forward a number of plans to help encourage investment and absorb the territory into its national infrastructure.
In addition to constructing a bridge to connect Crimea to mainland Russia and laying communications lines, Russian officials have also suggested declaring the region a special economic zone and creating a tax regime to help attract investors. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last month urged Russian state companies, ministries and private corporations to send their employees to the peninsula for summer vacations, promising subsidies for air travel to boost the local economy to make up for an expected shortfall in tourist cash that the region relies on.
In 2009, Russia banned gambling across the country, except for in the designated regions of Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, Altai and Vladivostok. The only operational resort is Azov City in Krasnodar, with work ongoing elsewhere.
The ban came as a result of an anti-vice campaign that included measures to curtail smoking and underage drinking.
