Russia Promotes Primorye Zone In An Effort To Develop New Casinos

The global gambling market continues to grow at a rapid pace and a number of countries have benefitted significantly from expanding their gambling markets. The Philippines, South Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam are just few of the markets that have witnessed an influx of revenue brought about by the establishment of new casinos.

Russia has dedicated a special economic zone called the ‘Primorye Gaming Zone’ to service the casino industry. The Primorye Gaming Zone which is located in the far east province of Primorye Krai is managed by the Primorsky Krai Development Corporation. As of now, the only casino opened for business is the Tigre de Cristal which is owned by Summit Ascent Holdings.

The Tigre de Cristal has been opened for business since 2015 and has had a free run of the market as there is no competition as of now. Three more casinos are in the final stages of development and are expected to open their doors to the public before the end of 2020.

The slow progress in the development of the Primorye Gaming Zone has disappointment the Russian government as they expect the gaming friendly zone to be more prominent and visible.

Twelve New Casinos Welcomed  

Igor Trofimov, executive director of the Primorye Gaming Zone attended the G2E Asia conference which was held in Macau in May 2019 and heavily promoted the Russian friendly gaming zone. He provided an update on what was taking place in Primorye by stating that the first phase of Cambodia’s NagaCorp owned Naga Vladivostok casino will open before June 2020 and Selena Casino owned by Diamond Fortune will open in September 2020.

Trofimov promoted the Primorye Gaming Zone and called on interested casino operators to visit the Russian Far East and look at developing an integrated casino resort in the phase 2 development of the special gaming zone.

In a statement, Trofimov said

We are interested in new investors. Today there are two free land lots for the construction of hotels and casinos, and work is underway to expand the possibilities of the non-gaming entertainment segment – the resort concept includes not only a gaming zone but also provides entertainment for family and youth recreation, such as an amusement park or water park.

The Primorye Gaming Zone is looking to host as many as 12 new integrated casino resorts and bring in investments amounting to over $2 billion.