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russia
Primorye project seen advancing despite crisis The Primorsky Krai Development Corp (PKDC), which is responsible for management of the Primorye gaming zone, expects a key project to move ahead this year, despite the outbreak of the coronavirus and remains upbeat about the region’s longer-term prospects.
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ussian entrepreneur Maxim Smolentsev, who formerly operated two casinos in the Azov City zone, began work on the Shambhala casino project in 2018. The Shambhala Company is now finishing construction, with a view to press ahead with a planned opening in May this year. The RUB8 billion project will involve an entertainment project with a 270-room luxury hotel, a casino, nightclub, restaurants and entertainment venues. The project will open in two phases, with the first stage involving the casino to coincide with the beginning of the tourism season in the region. The casino will
Asia Gaming Briefings | May 2020
have 32 gaming tables and 650 slot machines. The first stage of the resort will spread over an area of about 38,000 sq.m. Primorye is one of the four original designated gambling zones in remote areas of Russia, which were established after President Vladimir Putin banned gaming in 2009. It is viewed as having the most potential of the hubs, given its close proximity to the northern Asian markets of Mainland China, Korea and Japan. About 420 million people live within a two-hour flight. It also has an advantage over many other gaming jurisdictions in Asia, boasting the
lowest tax rate, paying a levy per unit and table rather than as a percentage of gross gambling revenue as is the norm in most other markets. While the charges in Russia vary between RUB50,000 and RUB250,000 per table and between RUB3,000 to RUB15,000 per machine, the rates in Primorye are RUB125,000 per table and RUB7,500 per machine. However, the vision to create a Macaustyle gaming hub has been slow to materialise, with Summit Ascent’s Tigre de Cristal the only property currently open, more than a decade after the zone was established. NagaCorp, which operates the NagaWorld
