MOSCOW -- One of the largest mass layoffs in recent Russian history is to occur on Wednesday, and the Kremlin itself is decreeing it, economic crisis or not.The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin that just a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work. And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans -- Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean Border! -- may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the government envisions. All the same, none of the four regions are prepared for the transfer, and no casino is expected to reopen for several years. As of July 1, not even two decades after casinos began proliferating here in the free-for-all post-Soviet era, the industry's workers will be out on the street.
The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin that just a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work.
And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans -- Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean Border! -- may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the government envisions.
All the same, none of the four regions are prepared for the transfer, and no casino is expected to reopen for several years. As of July 1, not even two decades after casinos began proliferating here in the free-for-all post-Soviet era, the industry's workers will be out on the street.
Regulation? I'd be shocked if government officials weren't seeing a cut, but I seriously doubt these intuitions are regulated in a way you or I would like. They sure weren't a decade ago. I think you have a very misinformed idea of how legal and regulated the stuff that goes on in these places are. It's not Las Vegas or Amsterdam, I can tell you that. When I was in Moscow, it was common wisdom that the casinos were either fronts for more nefarious operations or vanity projects, or generally some combination there of. Maybe they've all cleaned up their acts since then, but even the casinos I know of in the quaint Midwest heartland are fronts for far worse than a little bit of preying on the have-nots in order to entertain the haves. And sure you could get a decent paying job there, in an area where decent paying jobs are scarce. So long as you understand that being a "hostess" will require showing customers a bit more than just their table.
Why is the answer to all preying off desperate people to legalize and regulate it? Because otherwise it will go underground? It's already underground! I'm sure the solution is not, "Build more casinos!" "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
But everyone else will know.
So obvious is this that one wonders if Putin has cut a deal for a rakeoff.
Of course better regulation is the answer. But in the absence of better regulation, badly regulated legal gambling is better than illegal gambling. Anymore than illegal drugs is a better regulation of the appetites of the public than legal narcotics.
Prohibition doesn't work. I thought Chicago's finest proved that 80 years ago. keep to the Fen Causeway
If there is one reason this is a bad a idea it is that people will be losing their jobs in an already tough economy. Again, there needs to be a better solution to that than "casinos."
Prohibition? Uhm, they aren't banning drinking, or even gambling. They are shutting down casinos and told them they can relocate in Siberia. Really - I can't even believe I am having this conversation. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
Could serious gamblers find places to go and gamble? Yes, they could. Were they seriously shady and dangerous? Yes. Then again, real gambling is seriously shady no matter where it is. What you didn't find was low-level gambling by the poor and the desperate on every street corner, which is what the spread of casinos enables. A good number of those people were probably wasting their money and their lives elsewhere, but it wasn't in underground casinos, and if those places were closed, they wouldn't be seeking out underground casinos. The elderly may love wasting their time and money on slot machines, but they're among the most law-abiding demographic in existence.
Japan is thoroughly screwed on this front. Public, legal gambling parlors are everywhere. Everyone knows the games are rigged, and everyone knows the odds are horribly against you, and everyone knows the parlors are owned either by the mob or by North Korea, and everyone goes. Were they all closed down overnight, I seriously doubt most of those people would start seeking out underground pachinko parlors - they're not there for the danger, or even to win money, but just because it's something to do to waste time, and there are lots of different ways to do that.
