Krasnaya Polyana play area. "Yantarnaya" in Kaliningrad
The issue of gambling zones is very acute in Russia, because in 2004 the government passed a bill to close all casinos and slot machines in the country, and gambling lovers have no choice but to start playing in the online space.
Gambling zones in Russia
The history of the creation of special zones began in 2006, when the government allowed the operation of casinos in four gambling zones: in the Kaliningrad region, as well as in Primorsky, Krasnodar and Altai territories.
Only in Krasnodar such a zone was called “Azov City”. The gambling zone in Sochi began to be seriously discussed only on the eve of Olympic Games.
Despite the fact that quite a lot of time has passed, the construction of facilities is progressing very slowly, and in fact in each zone only one to several casinos are ready for operation.
For example, game Zone"Yantarnaya" began its work only in August of this year, and then only with one casino, and on Far East Currently, only two establishments are operating. The remaining buildings are under construction.
Nevertheless, even such small successes so far bring tangible benefits to the regions. The fact is that every company that builds a casino not only opens gambling halls, but also creates hotels, recreation centers, and jobs. The gambling zone in Sochi, for example, should also entail further development Krasnodar region.
Gambling zone "Azov City"
In connection with the introduction new zone In the Krasnodar region, a sad prospect is expected for establishments located in Azov City. Casinos located here will be forced to close until the end of 2018. Even sadder is the fact that many large companies have already invested in the creation of this gambling zone, and it is one of the few where gambling people can find refuge.
However, as Nikolai Oganezov put it, a famous person in the field of gambling, Azov City and its casinos were non-competitive from the very beginning. After all, in Sochi the conditions are much more favorable, it happens there more people, and the city is located closer to Turkey, where an influx of players is also expected.
Gambling zone in Sochi
The project for such a casino site is called “Krasnaya Polyana”. It is planned to open the said complex in the ski area of the resort, since it is there that there are the necessary buildings and infrastructure for opening a casino.
The zone will operate on the territory of the existing Gorki-Gorod ski resort, where the headquarters of the Olympic Games organizers were previously located. According to the director of the complex, Elena Zakharova, the opening will depend only on how quickly the first operator is chosen. The manager is confident that the first machines will be operational this winter.
However, some features of the zone are already known. Thus, preparations are being made for the opening of more than 500 gaming slots, 70 gaming rooms for card games and even a separate poker club. New hotel spaces, conference rooms, cafes and restaurants, as well as additional entertainment facilities will be created around this diversity.
The opening of such an area is of great strategic importance for the entire region. The fact is that the creation of a gambling zone in Sochi is more of a strategic step, because after the Olympic Games the city still has a developed infrastructure that needs to be fully utilized, and this can only be done with the help of tourists.
It is assumed that in Sochi, gambling lovers will not need anything: there are hotels for every taste, ski resorts, various entertaining concerts, attractions, stadiums and, of course, the Black Sea and all its delights. It is planned that gambling zone in Sochi will make it possible to recoup the investments made in the region.
Prospects for gambling zones in the country
Today, the construction of a gambling zone in Sochi is in full swing. It is planned that it should start operating next summer, because, in fact, the buildings only need internal reconstruction. The opening was expected this season, but preparations were delayed.
The only thing that may confuse casinos in Russia is the government's plans to introduce a 10% tax on all their profits. As experts say, this could lead to the fact that the gambling business simply cannot exist. However, for now, the increased fees are just talk, and it is not a fact that they will actually take effect.
SOCHI, January 5. /TASS/. The opening ceremony of the first casino of the new gambling zone "Krasnaya Polyana" will take place on Thursday in Sochi. The entertainment complex includes gaming halls, two restaurants, a bar, a banquet hall, a cabaret theater, a conference hall, as well as boutiques, the Sochi Casino and Resort press service told TASS.
In test mode, the fifth gambling zone in the Russian Federation received its first visitors on December 24, 2016. “The so-called Fun Casino days and test launch are necessary to set up and optimize processes and perfect the interaction algorithm of a large team, which must work harmoniously and can provide the maximum high level service for our guests. Despite the fact that December 24 was not widely announced as the date for the test launch of Sochi Casino and Resort, the number of visits was about 1 thousand people, exceeding our expectations. In addition, there were many foreign guests at the casino,” Sochi Casino and Resort said.
The most popular games at the tables on the first day of operation of the Sochi casino were blackjack and Russian poker.
Where and how casinos are developing in Russia
The Law “On State Regulation of Activities for the Organization and Conduct of Gambling” at the end of December 2016 celebrated its 10th anniversary since its adoption. Any gambling activity with the exception of bookmakers, sweepstakes and lotteries has been prohibited in Russia since July 1, 2009, everywhere except for four special gambling zones - in the Kaliningrad region ("Yantarnaya"), Altai ("Siberian Coin"), Primorsky ("Primorye" ) and Krasnodar Territory ("Azov City").
The Azov City zone was initially located on the border of the Rostov region and the Krasnodar region. At the beginning of 2010, the first casino opened, and in the middle of the same year, the Kuban authorities initiated the transfer of the entire gambling zone to the Anapa region; in 2011, the Russian government excluded the Rostov region from the list of subjects where you can play gambling. Now there are two investor companies working in Azov City.
Investments of the Royal Time Group in the development of a complex of facilities under the Oracle brand have already amounted to more than 3.4 billion rubles. After the adoption in July 2014 of a law allowing the opening of gambling establishments in Crimea and on the territory of the Olympic venues in the Krasnodar Territory, this investor froze the implementation of three more projects totaling 14 billion rubles.
The Shambhala company owns a complex with an area of 19 thousand square meters. m for 1.2 billion rubles. In April 2016, a law was passed proposing to extend the Azov City gambling zone in the Krasnodar Territory until January 1, 2019. After this it will be liquidated.
"Siberian coin"
The decree of the Russian government on the creation of the Siberian Coin gambling zone in the Altai Territory was signed on February 12, 2008, and the first facility, the Altai Palace casino, held technical discovery in November 2014.
So far, this is the only facility operating on the territory of the Altai gambling zone. According to regional administration on tourism, resort business, interregional and international relations, the casino brings in the planned volumes of income (about 75 million rubles since November 2014 - TASS note). The first investor in the gambling zone in Altai plans to further develop the investment site - in the near future he intends to start building a ski slope, a water park and an additional slot hall.
Currently, two investors are registered in the zone - the first company, Alti, according to the relevant department, has fully fulfilled its obligations under the investment agreement. The second company, RTG-Siberia, intends to enter the site at the beginning of 2017 and complete the construction of four multifunctional entertainment complexes in 2019. The amount of declared investments for this project is 1.1 billion rubles.
By 2019, the construction of 15 casinos, 10 large gambling and entertainment complexes in 30 hotels, designed for 3 thousand simultaneous accommodations, is planned on 2.3 thousand hectares of the Siberian Coin. total cost The project, according to preliminary estimates, will amount to about 30 billion rubles. For 11 months of 2016, the only Altai casino was visited by more than 27.3 thousand people, while for the whole of 2015 - about 20 thousand people.
"Primorye"
The largest and most technically equipped casino in Russia was opened in 2015 in the integrated entertainment zone "Primorye" near Vladivostok. During the year of operation, the Tigre de Cristal entertainment complex was visited by more than 200 thousand people, and the number of international flights to the region tripled.
From October 2015 to October 2016, the budget of the Primorsky Territory received 130 million rubles in taxes on gambling activities.
Tigre de Cristal's investor, G1 Entertainment, plans to invest $500 million in the second phase of the project and build a facility with an area of 100 thousand square meters. square meters, including from 400 to 500 hotel rooms, shopping mall, food court, restaurants and bars, conference and banquet facilities, spa. It is also planned to build additional areas for parking, the possibility of building a golf course is being considered.
In December last year, the second investor of this gambling zone, Naga Corp Ltd, also began construction of the first facility - a hotel and entertainment complex with the Mayak casino; the first stage of the facility is scheduled for completion at the end of 2018. The Chinese corporation Guowei Caifu, the owner of the Beauty Crown Grand-Tree Hotel in Sanya, also announced their intentions to build facilities on the territory of the gambling zone. In addition to objects gambling business An exhibition and exposition center for major international events at the level of the Eastern Economic Forum may appear in the Primorye resort; plans for the construction of such a facility in the region were previously announced by representatives of the PRC Entrepreneurs Association.
The infrastructure of the entertainment zone is created at the expense of the regional budget. It is expected that the project will be implemented in three stages, the last one will be completed in 2022. By the time the zone reaches its design capacity, up to 15 thousand new jobs will be created in direct employment alone, and up to 30 thousand people will be employed in related industries.
"Yantarnaya" in Kaliningrad
The Kaliningrad gambling zone is developing slower than all others; only in April 2016 the first establishment was opened here - the Magic Cristal slot machine hall. It includes two halls with 150 slot machines, bars and a VIP room. The establishment told TASS that the hall continues to operate around the clock, 7 days a week, without specifying the daily number of visitors.
On December 27, 2016, the technical start of work was given for the second establishment of the Kaliningrad gambling zone - the Sobranie casino, the investor company Uni Management told TASS. The operating company of this project is Uni Gaming Company LLC; permission to carry out gambling activities has already been received. “The technical period is necessary to build processes and train staff directly on the job,” explained a representative of Uni Management, adding that the date of the official opening of the casino will be announced later. "Casino "Sobranie" is one of the most big casinos on the European continent, its total area is 18 thousand square meters. meters.
As previously reported, the total area of the gambling zone is more than 99 hectares. It is planned to build a number of other facilities with a gambling component here. The declared volume of investment in the project is 45 billion rubles until 2029. The regional government reported that all work on the development of Yantannaya is being carried out according to schedule. The Uni Management company also noted that plans for the development of the gambling zone have not changed.
Sochi and Crimea - two new gambling zones
The order on the creation of the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone was published on August 19 at official Internet portal legal information. The gambling zone will be located in the mountain cluster of Sochi on an area of 165 thousand square meters. m on land plots previously presented for the location of Olympic facilities, the financing and construction of which was not carried out at the expense of budgetary funds or funds of the state corporation "Olympstroy". The opening of a casino will help solve the problem of loading the resort during the off-season. This opinion was expressed earlier at the presentation of the Sochi Casino and Resort project by the adviser to the head Federal agency for tourism (Rosturizm) Evgeniy Kudelya.
"Over the past few years, the tourist flow has increased significantly, both in summer and winter period The demand for holidays in the Russian Federation and, in particular, in Sochi is very high. But such facilities will help seriously solve another problem - the problem of the off-season. Because, despite the fact that Sochi is the most popular and one of the most best resorts, we have an off-season curve and we need to smooth it out,” Kudelya noted.
On July 23, 2014, President Vladimir Putin signed the law on a gambling zone in the territory of the Republic of Crimea. By expert assessments, the Crimean budget can receive up to 25 billion rubles per year from the new gambling zone. In June 2016, the Crimean government determined the boundaries of the future zone, placing it on the territory of the village of Gaspra near Yalta (area - 16.8 hectares).
According to the head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, the project has a private investor, and so far there have been no refusals from businesses to implement it. The Crimean authorities do not name the investor who wants to develop a gambling zone on the peninsula due to sanctions from the West. The gambling zone should appear in Crimea before 2019.
The Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone has become a center of attraction for Russian tourists and foreign guests, lovers of entertainment and games in general, who come for a whole pool of gaming and entertainment offers. Today, the gambling zone "Krasnaya Polyana", created on August 10, 2016 by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, is represented by three gambling establishments: "Sochi Casino", the "Bonus" slot machine hall, located at the all-season resort "Gorki Gorod" and on the territory of the year-round mountain resort "Rosa Khutor".
Two years of work, numbers and facts
In two years, the gambling zone was visited over 850,000 people. The geography of guests covered 146 countries – despite the fact that the concept of a visa-free space has not been implemented in the gambling zone. Of them 57 became participating countries in poker tournaments regularly held at Casino Sochi. The Sochi Poker Club, located in the casino, has established itself as the main platform for poker events in Russia and the world: in 2017-2018. passed here 18 major tournament series. Record prize fund poker tournament amounted to 690 000 000 rubles Record winnings during the drawing – 60 000 000 rubles in one hand.
In addition to international poker tournaments, Casino Sochi offers its guests a lot of entertainment: entertainment show programs, concerts of famous Russian and world stars, theme parties and much more. 92 free concerts was held on the central stage of the Sochi Casino, traditionally - admission is free.
Total won 4 582
jackpots in the amount of 1,437,524,781 rubles. Most big jackpot– 31,210,000 rubles. It was also played 22
car.
Among the guests of the gambling zone are: 66% - men, 34% - women us. 84% are Russian citizens: residents of the Krasnodar Territory and tourists of the region. The remaining 16% are guests from other countries. The most gambling regions steel Moscow and Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, Sverdlovsk region, Krasnodar region, Republic of Tatarstan.
The number of employees in the gambling zone today is over 1400 people and includes representatives from more than 250 professions. For 22 months of work amount of tax deductions amounted to the budget 1,472,247,964 rubles, which, according to industry experts, exceeded expected results.
In the establishments of the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone you can visit various show programs, live performances by musicians, themed parties, broadcasts of presenters sporting events and intellectual games.
A separate area of work is the organization of MICE events of various formats: over the course of 2 years, 128 major corporate events for companies such as Sberbank, MTS, Gazprom, BOSCO, Lamborghini, Roscongress Foundation, etc.
Over the 2 years of work, the project received several awards:
- THE MOSCOW LIFE & BUSINESS AWARDS - 2018, “Sochi Casino” - the best luxury entertainment project;
- “Golden Prometheus” Award, “Casino Sochi” - winner of the “Discovery of the Year” nomination;
- Time Out Award, Brunello restaurant - the best premium restaurant in Sochi;
- Southern Pizza Championship Award, Buffett restaurant, 1st place.
Brand chef of the Casino Sochi restaurants Ilya Zakharov
Five favorite drinks casino guests: Moet & Chandon champagne, Jack Daniels whiskey, Hennessy cognac. Three favorite dishes guests of the BUFFET restaurant: assorted sushi, rolls, beef tataki with shiitake and edamame, halibut with squid and mashed potatoes; BRUNELLO restaurant: tasting sets, black cod in miso and chocolate sauce, served with cauliflower puree; crispy zucchini flowers with crab.
The format of the gambling zone as a cultural and entertainment center offering a whole range of recreation options has significantly expanded the potential audience of the project and proved the demand for a new type of entertainment in Sochi.
The concept of a single gambling zone
Domain LLC, the operator of the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone, is consistently introducing the concept of a single gaming zone: since December 2018, a single guest card and updated program loyalty. By visiting any of the three operating gambling establishments, the player retains his privileges and accumulates loyalty points.
“We consciously offer a wide range of entertainment for every taste and expect that the number of our guests will increase, because everyone will find a format of relaxation to their liking. And ours the main task– to provide each guest with the most comfortable and safe conditions of stay",” comments Dmitry Anfinogenov, development director of the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone.
Dmitry Anfinogenov, development director of the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone
Introduction of modern technical solutions – personal account on the website of the gambling zone and mobile application– will allow guests to receive all the necessary information about gaming and entertainment events in the gambling zone, tournaments and player ratings, as well as personal information, previously available exclusively during a personal visit: information about your status in the loyalty program, accumulated points and options for using them in the gambling zone.
Dmitry Anfinogenov announces plans for the gambling zone: “The long-term strategy for the development of the gambling zone involves the emergence of an entire entertainment industry cluster on the territory of Krasnaya Polyana: several restaurant projects and new nightclubs; There is an urgent need to adapt the resort's hotel fund to the casino. We focus on the highest standards of service and as the development of the gambling zone progresses, the entire complex will work as a single organism.”