The Government of Russia will be shutting down all legal casinos and slots parlors in the country on Wednesday.  The only survival option left to the gaming industry under new anti-gambling laws is to relocate to one of four special zones - some as many as 4,000 miles away from any urbanized area - Russian versions of Las Vegas essentially.  None of the zones are actually set up for an influx of gambling tourism and no casino is expected to reopen for years into the future, at the very least.

The Russian legal gambling industry is widespread, with more than 40 facilities in Moscow alone.  Shuttering the casinos will result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in an economy that is already expected to contract by almost 8% this year.  But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have been unrelenting in their push to rid Russia of the casino industry and the shady characters associated with it.In my view, casinos and legalized gambling in all forms have no place in society.  I’ve played blackjack in Vegas, bought Mega Millions lottery tickets, bet on horses at the track and thrown money away in slot machines - so I’m certainly not a puritan on the issue.  But the fact is that gambling is a rigged game that in the long run, nobody but the house can win. It has also destroyed the lives of many people who become hopelessly addicted to the rush of risking everything they have on tilted games of chance.  The fact that gambling has been allowed to become so prominent in the United States over the last 20 years, with state and local governments greedily looking at its revenue to shore up their budgets, is unconscionable.

So, while it would be nice if the Russian government could wait to push this plan until their economy is in better shape, easing the burden of transition on those who work in the gaming industry there, it’s hard to fault them for wanting to do away with this industry altogether.

LINKS:

NY Times: Exiled by Russia, Casinos and Jobs

LA Times: Casino lights to dim in Moscow as new law pushes gambling to distant corners of Russia

The Australian: Vladimir Putin to shut down gambling in Russia