Translated material
Prussian roulette
The Kaliningrad region is ready to become a special gambling zone
On November 15, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill on the creation of four gambling zones in Russia. With the required 226 votes, 440 deputies voted for the bill “On state regulation of activities related to the organization and conduct of gambling,” no one spoke against it, and one deputy abstained. The document provides for the possibility of creating two types of gambling zones - settlement gambling zones and special gambling zones. Both types of zones can be created for a period of five years by decision of the government of the Russian Federation and in agreement with the relevant authorities of the constituent entities of the federation. Gambling zones of settlements, according to the law, are created on land plots intended for the construction and development of urban and rural settlements. Special gambling zones can also be created on lands that are not settlement lands. But such land plots can only be in state or municipal ownership. The Kaliningrad region is ready to become one of the four special gambling zones.In the westernmost Russian region, it seems that a new fashion has emerged - no matter what special zone is invented at the federal level, the Kaliningrad region will definitely fight for it. So, at one time it became a special economic zone. And now it is laying claim to two more - tourism and recreation and gambling.
Regarding the latter, deputies of the regional Duma recently sent a petition to Moscow. At their meeting, local parliamentarians adopted an appeal to the leadership of the State Duma and the Federation Council, in which they asked to place a special gambling zone on the territory of the Kaliningrad region.
Let us recall that a month ago, President Vladimir Putin proposed moving all domestic gambling establishments to special “reservations” - two in the European part of Russia, the rest in Siberia and the Far East. The Kaliningrad region began to try on this status almost immediately. However, local officials remained silent until the last minute, trying not to comment on this topic. Only the other day, apparently, the go-ahead was given - and a corresponding appeal urgently appeared in the regional Duma, sent through the largest United Russia faction.
“Everything was very unexpected. And many of my respected colleagues, during the preliminary discussion of the draft of this appeal, simply clapped their hands with happiness. But wait, dear ones! We have to calculate everything!” - Deputy of the regional Duma, ex-adviser to the governor Alexander Kuznetsov told Vremya Novostey. In his opinion, it is necessary to weigh all the pros and cons. “Imagine, we’ve been plowing virgin soil all our lives. And then they tell us - guys, let's drill oil wells and you will be in gold! Yes, but what will happen to our land later when the oil runs out?” - Mr. Kuznetsov asks an almost philosophical question.
Approximately the same thoughts were voiced during the discussion of the appeal at the general Duma meeting. The Communists and “Patriots of Russia” were offended that they were not consulted on such an important issue. They did not support this appeal, but they could not influence the outcome of the vote - United Russia had enough votes to accept it.
“We are ready to make a proposal to place one of the gaming zones in the region. The special geopolitical position of our region, if it were created here, would help attract a sufficiently large number of foreign tourists to the region. Realizing the complexity of the issues related to the placement of a gambling business zone on the territory of the Kaliningrad region, the regional government and the regional Duma are able to provide the necessary control and implementation of legislative requirements in this area of legal relations,” the appeal says.
The deputy head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, Solomon Ginzburg, categorically disagrees with this, calling the idea of locating a gambling zone in the region an “adventure.” “What kind of readiness for control can we talk about if we still cannot solve contract killings? Recently, in the very center of the city, a killer on a motorcycle shot a man with a machine gun. So what, the murderer was exposed? says Mr. Ginsburg. He fears that the idea of a gambling zone will turn Kaliningrad into something like Buenos Aires in the thirties of the last century. “They tried to do something similar there too. As a result, the city became the center of gangster wars,” the deputy explained.
However, the Duma majority turns a deaf ear to these arguments. The first vice-speaker of the regional Duma, Konstantin Polyakov, one of the leaders of United Russia, told Vremya Novostei: “The placement of a gambling zone in the Kaliningrad region is extremely profitable from an economic point of view and in terms of attracting tourists. “Of course, this will give a powerful impetus to the development of infrastructure, the construction of modern roads, hotels, restaurants, air terminals, the provision of various types of services, etc.” He explained that according to budget legislation, the gambling tax is considered local and is credited to the region’s treasury. “Three years ago, we received approximately 40 million rubles a year from casinos and roulettes. This year - five times more. And if a gambling zone is located in our region, then the regional budget for several years of operation of such a zone will be able to receive approximately 30 billion!”
However, there are other calculations. The same Mr. Kuznetsov, for example, believes that the total financial income (taking into account the activities of all related industries) from the operation of the gambling zone will be approximately 200 billion rubles. per year. How can we fight crime, which often uses casinos as “washing machines” for their illegal income? Deputies believe that it will be enough to move the gambling zone to a non-residential area (one of the most likely options is the Baltic Sea zone from Yantarny to Primorsk), surround everything with barbed wire, introduce a record of visits and post security. “If something goes wrong, the person can be immediately sent to his bunk,” they joke in the regional Duma.
Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos, however, is not inclined to turn this project into a joke. He said at his recent press conference: “When the slot machine is within the bus stop, the person plays and moves on. You will have to make a special trip to this same recreation. And such a zone will not be accessible to everyone - mainly to wealthy people who make up a small part of the population.”
For some reason, one immediately imagines gray groups of “ordinary citizens” who stand at stops waiting for their trams and buses. And then, as in the famous song of the group “Dancing Minus”: “Expensive limousines fly past, women rush in them with burning eyes, cold hearts, golden hair...”