Tomsk business is ready to invest 100 million rubles in repurposing gambling halls

The number of casinos in Tomsk will double by April 2007. The regional law banning slot machines that came into force forced entrepreneurs to convert gambling halls into casinos. According to market participants, more than 100 million rubles will be invested in the forced expansion of the gambling business. Businessmen plan to recoup their investments within a year. The regional administration calls such a decision reasonable, but “temporary and unpromising.” On July 1, 2009, a federal law came into force prohibiting the activities of all gambling establishments outside gambling zones. Yesterday, Deputy Director of the Real Estate Department of the Tomsk City Hall, Vyacheslav Chernous, announced an agreement reached by the authorities and representatives of the gambling business. “A joint decision was made to convert the slot machine halls into casinos. So far, only Elan-Tomsk LLC (Million gambling halls - Kommersant) and Pioneer-Profi LLC have announced their intentions to re-equip the halls,” the official specified.
According to the chairman of the regional gambling business association (it includes six organizations that occupy about 50% of the market in the Tomsk region and have assets of at least 600 million rubles each) Vadim Trifonov, three more organizations are ready to join the agreement. “Six to nine casinos based on slot machine halls will be opened in Tomsk. Where possible, the territory of the halls will expand, we will purchase gaming tables,” explained Mr. Trifonov.
According to the real estate department of the Tomsk mayor's office, there are currently six legal casinos and about 15 underground slot machine halls operating in the regional center. Administrative arrest was placed on 316 machines, of which 73 machines were confiscated and taken to warehouses, the rest were transferred to the owners for safekeeping. In 2007, there were 142 legal gambling halls operating in the Tomsk region, of which 61 were in Tomsk. Let us remind you that in early January, several entrepreneurs applied to the Tomsk Regional Court with a statement to invalidate regional law No. 140 “On the prohibition of organizing and conducting gambling in slot machine halls in the Tomsk region” from January 1 of this year. Businessmen felt that the law violated the constitutional rights to freedom of enterprise and freedom of economic space. However, on January 21, the court rejected the claims. “The regional court recognized that the law is legitimate and was adopted in accordance with federal regulations within the powers of the regional parliament. The arbitration court left consideration of the issue until January 30, 2008,” explained the vice-governor of the Tomsk region for security and business management, Yuri Sukhoplyuev. In his opinion, the arbitration court of the Tomsk region will make a decision using the existing judicial precedent.
According to Vadim Trifonov’s calculations, the refurbishment of one slot machine hall in a casino can cost an entrepreneur up to 20 million rubles: “It all depends on what kind of hall it was originally. There is an example where you only need to invest 3 million rubles.” Local officials are skeptical about the prospects for building new casinos in Tomsk. “As a short-term solution, this is a way out of a difficult situation. But there will be no prospects or future for the gambling business in the form in which it is now. We need to think about re-profiling the business,” recommended Vice-Governor Sukhoplyuev. The authorities suggested that businessmen open cafes or shops in place of gambling halls. However, the regional gambling association has already stated that entrepreneurs are more inclined to transfer their business to gambling zones than to reorient it.
Ekaterina Litvinova, Tomsk

Kommersant (Novosibirsk) No. 12 from 01/29/2008, p. 15

The machines will be returned to the casino