Rusia says bye bye to casinos
Croupiers in Russia will roll the dice for the last time on Tuesday night as a ban on gambling comes into force in all but four remote regions.
Casinos and slot machine emporiums have been outlawed and other forms of gambling restricted to four, as yet undeveloped zones.
Betting at horse races is still allowed, although football fans can no longer bet at matches.
The law, first suggested in 2006 by then president Vladimir Putin, has been billed as an attempt to stop wasteful spending and improve the moral health of the nation.
Experts say the gambling industry has an annual turnover of about $6bn while underground gaming was estimated to earn at least twice as much.
Casino owners said the ban would drive gaming underground and put more than 350,000 people out of work during a time when unemployed in Russia is already soaring.
Storm International, which operates five of Moscow’s glitziest casinos, said it would lay off 5,000 workers after the close of business on Wednesday. Other casino operators are expected to do the same.
Samil Binder, the deputy executive director of the Russian association for the development of the gaming business, said the plan to build new, Las Vegas style gaming zones would require $40bn to $45bn of investment and was a “stillborn idea.”
”The government is prepared to invest and invest in enterprises like AvtoVaz [Russia’s biggest auto-maker] and get nothing in return, but it won’t spend anything on the gaming business,” he said.
The Russian Orthodox Church said the ban proved that Russia was “quite a strong society, capable of correction.”
“We can get the better of illegal underground gaming, the threat of alcohol, the proliferation of pornography and all the phenomena that destroy a man’s spirit and the moral conscience of the people,” it said.
Casinos and gaming halls were forbidden in the Soviet era but mushroomed in the freewheeling 1990’s when Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president was in power.
Sergey Mironov, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, said the unregulated gaming industry had facilitated “money laundering, wrecked the work ethic and criminalised society.”
Mr Binder said casino owners began relocating abroad when the law was first introduced and those left behind are expected to do the same.
Gran Scala will create jobs
The chairman of the Government of Aragon, Marcelino Iglesias, finally showed his confidence and trust in this project.- Last Friday, one day after the ‘BIG GS O’, he said that he hopes the future leisure city Gran Scala “will create jobs and wealth”, while keeping the economy trends in advanced societies that are based on the services industry. – This was mr. Iglesias answer to a question of IU’s MP, Adolfo Barrena, in the House of the Aragon Parliament.
In his speech, the chief executive explained that the “Entertainment Centers of High Capacity Law”, approved yesterday by the House parliamentarian and allowing legally open Gran Scala is not an ‘ad hoc’, but to regulate the implementation of any entertainment center, high-capacity intending to settle in Aragon, not just for the one submitted so far.
Marcelino Iglesias continued his speech by stating that the Government, will decide “which one best fulfills” the law and he remark the conditions imposed by this law to such centers, which cited the obligation to create at least 3,000 jobs and build hotel rooms for 8000 people.
The aragonese president believed that “anyone who dares to invest under these conditions” will really make a significant investment in Aragon. ” In addition, Iglesias said that the services industry is “nuclear” for Aragon, representing 62 percent of the Aragonese economy, and highligted that “the most modern economies have more services than us, 70 percent.”
Adolfo Barrena (as usual) took opportunity to criticize the project and its supporters, and said that since IU, “we do not want any ” Entertainment Centers of High Capacity” (anywhere in the world) and asked “what else the government is going to do” not just a “personalized law” mr.Barrena told mr.Iglesias that “you will not find any type of collaboration in such projects” from me and from my party IU – (amen).
Casino City in Spain?
Spain is one of the more popular destinations for tourists all over the world. Dark handsome Spanish men, exotic Spanish ladies, excellent paella, tapas, and jamon, architecture, flamenco, sun, mediterranean beaches & botellon – all these and more are enough reasons for anyone to want to go to Spain. But did it ever occur to you to go to Spain to visit a casino?
Maybe not yet, but with this proposal to create a casino city in the region of Aragon, Spain just might become the top European destination for gambling. The project is dubbed the Gran Scala and features casino cum hotels, theme parks, and of course, a horse racing track. If the plan pushes through, this casino entertainment complex will be the largest of its kind in the whole of Europe.
Naturally, opposition has already been announced ie Los Monegros no se venden (in Spanish). One reason is that the site for the complex is located near a small village called Ontinena. The priest of the village, Father Lorenzo surprisingly states that it could be good in terms of the economy – jobs and all that. He says, however, that the moral implications could very well go the opposite way. He refrains from issuing a strong opinion, however, and says that the moral development will depend entirely on the individual.
As for the rest of the villagers? It seems that many are in favor of it, perhaps largely due to the fact that unemployment is quite high in the country these days (17%). For the rest of the gambling world, it is another thing to look forward to in the future.
VIDEO presentation of Gran Scala:
Gran Scala project represents the future of Ontinena
Egyptian Gran Scala hotel
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The Gran Scala project proposes building casino-hotels, theme parks and a racecourse in countryside near the village of Ontinena.
The thirteenth century Church of Saint Mary sits on a hill in the centre of Ontinena, like a beacon for moral guidance.
Many Roman Catholics would associate casinos with deadly sins, so the response of Father Lorenzo, the 80-year-old, bespectacled priest, to plans to build a city of casinos and theme parks next to his village, is surprising.
“In general I think it’s a good idea,” he says.
“I suppose it could bring economic development. But moral development, that depends on the individual.”
Spaniards spent over €30bn on gambling services
Full information that content Official statistics wich become part of the Statistical Plan Nacional in Spain.
This report is gathered from three major blocs, according to their type of Management:
- Regional gaming, managed by private companies with prior authorization from the Autonomous Communities (casinos, bingo, gaming machines, lotteries, sweepstakes and combinations random).
- Those of other state management entrusted to the entity Public Lotteries and Gambling business of the state (sp. LAE: Loterías y Apuestas del Estado) relating to lotteries, football pools and Primitives in its different forms.
- Others managed under special authorization by the National Organization of Blind Spaniards (ONCE).
There are many other games developed in local areas heavily restricted, where bets are accepted at specified times of the year and others of a minority as practiced in the gables or dog tracks, which are not included in this study for lack of sufficient information, but for those who can assert that its amount he economy is very limited and almost negligible compared to the previous ones.
Gaming Report’s Sources used
Autonomous communities have assumed responsibility for compiling and develop data on their area of competence and make them available this Department for their coordination and final submission, as well as the public company, Lotteries and Gambling State, the National Organization of Blind Spaniards, and other companies or private institutions that have worked providing the required information in each case.
- a) Data from the private gaming: 1. Councils in charge of the game in the Autonomous Communities that Pursuant to the royal decrees of devolution of power, provided the requested data.
- Control Service of Gaming Directorate-General of Police and the Guardia Civil.
- b) Data from the state-owned company and of the National Organization of Blind.
- Public Corporate Entity of state Lotteries and Gambling (LAE)
- National Organization of Blind Spaniards (ONCE).
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Project Location Aragon Spain
Ontinena's location on the Aragon's map (comarca del Bajo Cinca Baix Cinca)
