Major new land casino for Russia
News on 9 Oct 2015
News on 9 Oct 2015
It’s been a bumpy road strewn with delays, but Summit Ascent’s Tigre de Cristal casino resort has launched in the Russian Primorye gaming zone to considerable local fanfare, and looks set to succeed – some say to Macau proportions.
The Moscow Times reports that the Far East Russian resort opened Thursday night, with executives pointing out that the venue is within 3 hours flying time from nearby Vladivostok to an Asian market populated by 300 million people, giving it significant potential.
The resort is the largest in Russia, a local government statement claims, and will create new jobs and boost the development of tourism and economic growth in the region.
The Primorye gambling zone is also expected to deliver more than a billion rubles ($16 million) in taxes to Primorye government coffers.
The region is one of six decreed as gambling zones in 2009, when the Russian federal government banned gambling anywhere else in the country. Just two of the six zones – Azov-City in Russia’s Krasnodar region and Siberian Coin in the Altai region – have managed to turn their special status into money-making entertainment complexes.
The closeness of the Primorye zone to the Asian markets has helped it to attract major Asian investors such as Melco and the Malaysia’s NagaCorp Ltd. The key investors in the project also include local Royal Time Primorye and Diamond Fortune Holdings Prim.
In addition to the casino, the gambling zone’s 620 hectares will host 15 hotels, 12 guest villas, a yacht club, a multifunctional trade and exhibition centre, and several cinemas by 2022, the government statement reveals.
Four investment contracts worth 108 billion rubles ($1.75 billion) have been signed so far, the statement added.
The full opening of Tigre de Cristal casino will take place on November 12. Tigre de Cristal club cards have already been purchased by 9,000 people, and 300 members of staff have been trained to work in the casino.
The new casino’s owner, G1 Entertainment, and its parent company Melco International Development Limited, have already created similar projects in Macao.
