The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved and signed legislation approving the creation of a designated “Golden Coast” gaming zone located on the southern coast of the disputed region of Crimea.
The zone, which the government expects will open its first casino by 2022, will take up an area of 146,851 square meters (0.147 sq km/32.3 acres) and be located near a small village called Katsiveli in the Yalta region on the Black Sea.
Russia banned gambling in 2009, restricting casino operations to four geographically isolated designated gaming zones. Plans for a Crimean gaming zone have been in the table for the past five years when the Russian State Duma approved a bill to establish special gambling zones in Crimea and Sochi. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian administrator of Crimea, announced that a big casino operator would be confirming soon its Crimean projects.
The zone from Crimea would be the fifth zone designated for gambling by the Russian government, following “Siberian Coin” in the Altai Republic, “Yantarnaya” in Kaliningrad, “Azov-city” in Rostov and “Primorie” in Primorsky Krai.
The status of Crimea is in dispute since its annexation by Russia in 2014, and the EU extended for one more year its ban on states making any investments in this area. The United States said in September that sanctions would remain in place so long as Russia continues to occupy the Crimea. The international community largely continues to recognize Ukraine’s jurisdiction over the region, although 17 UN member states besides Russia consider Crimea to be Russian territory.
Lack of infrastructure has affected all these gaming zones, and the Crimea zone seems to have identical issues. The nearest airport is a military facility around 70km from the casino site, although the government apparently plans to create a civilian terminal at this airport.
Crimea also hosts some Russian-operated sports betting shops and two operators were recently fined RUB1.5m (US$23,500) for accepting wagers from customers without conducting the necessary identification checks, shortcuts they allegedly took “in pursuit of profit.”
Ukraine is currently in the process of passing legislation to legalize gambling across the country, with legislators have filed a bill to allow slot machines at three, four and five-star hotels and casinos at five-star locations.