Russia may be about to authorize its sixth casino-friendly zone after reports emerged yesterday that a Turkish company has been commissioned to design a seaside resort that is set to include a pair of casinos in the southern state of Dagestan.
According to a report from Asia Gaming Brief citing the Izvestia news outlet, the scheme is due to be located along the Caspian Sea and is also set to feature several sportsbetting outlets.
The as yet unnamed resort development is reportedly due to be owned by investments and holdings firm Nafta Moskva, which is controlled by billionaire Russian businessman and politician Suleiman Kerimov, and could cost upwards of $100 million to bring to fruition.
Asia Gaming Brief reported that any such development for the northern Caucus state would require a change to the law as a 2009 decision made casino gambling illegal in Russia with the exception of four disparate regions, the Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic Sea, the far eastern Primorsky Krai, Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea and central Asia’s Altai Krai. But, this has happened before as the Krasnaya Polyana area around Sochi was added to the Krasnodar Krai zone in 2014 while Moscow approved casinos for its newly-annexed Crimea territory in June.
In related news, Asia Gaming Brief moreover reported that last month saw the governor for the Stavropol Krai region of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirov, propose that his state be granted a casino-friendly zone. Located between Dagestan and Krasnodar Krai and home to almost 2.8 million people, the move could ultimately prove to be a hard sell as the region shares borders with the often troubled territories of Chechnya and North Ossetia.