14 years have passed since the ban on gambling in Russia, with the exception of doing business in special regions. Today, there are four gambling zones in our country: in Kaliningrad, Sochi, Altai and the Far East.
The Primorye gambling zones in the Far East and Sibirskaya Coin in Altai were the first to open gambling zones — they began to receive guests in the fall of 2015. A year later, in December 2016, the westernmost gambling zone «Yantarnaya» was launched. In 2017, the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone was opened.
Thus, the zoned gambling industry has been forming over the past 8 years. During this time, Russian casinos have been visited by more than 7 420 000 guests. At the same time, the distribution of the tourist flow is as follows: the gambling zone «Krasnaya Polyana» — 3 999 842 guests, «Primorye» — 2 241 727 guests, «Yantarnaya» — 702 820 guests and «Siberian Coin» — 474 712 visitors.
It is interesting to note that gambling zones in Vladivostok and Sochi are leading in terms of the number of foreign guests. Thus, since its foundation, Primorye has been visited by 508 631 foreigners, and 427 724 foreign guests have rested in the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone. «Amber» and «Siberian Coin» are significantly inferior in this indicator to their colleagues, having received an average of 7 200 foreigners.
As for the total amount of tax deductions from all four gambling zones of the country, it is 11 ; 820 628 716 rubles. In terms of the amount of tax deductions, the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone is the leader — 6 761 271 040 rubles. The second place is taken by «Primorye» — 3 & nbsp; 949 & nbsp; 471 & nbsp; 000 rubles. The third and fourth places are shared by the gambling zones «Yantarnaya» — 631 624 390 rubles and «Siberian Coin» — 478 262 286 rubles.
Over the eight years of existence, the gambling zones have been transformed into multifunctional entertainment clusters and hotel complexes. Most of the new and under construction infrastructure facilities of the gambling business are not related to the gaming component of the business.
Dmitry Anfinogenov, Executive Director of the Association of Operators of the Entertainment Industry and Sports and Entertainment Events (AIRIS), analyzed business processes and spoke about trends in development of the gambling industry: «I see an absolutely competent and successful decision to move Russian casinos to gambling zones. Today we can see the fruits of this initiative. Each gambling cluster plays the role of a tourism driver for its region, creates jobs for the local population, replenishes the regional budget and gives impetus to the development of related businesses.
The gambling industry has shown its resilience in times of covid restrictions and in the context of a strict sanctions policy. Moreover, apart from 2020, the attendance and tax deductions show an increase from year to year.
As one of the most important reasons for such dynamics, I single out the tight integration of the gambling business into the Russian tourism industry. Pay attention to what areas and projects are actively developing gambling zones today: concert venues, SPA complexes, numerous restaurants, conference halls, hotels, theaters, multifunctional arenas for large-scale events. Such an expansion of infrastructure helps to scale business in various directions, and most importantly, it makes the regions attractive in terms of event tourism.»