With casino gambling on the rise in Russia, a current bill in the lower Parliamentary House is going to get a closer look by members of Parliament. The bill, which was originally approved in March of this year, aims to put an end to gambling establishments in what it refers to as inappropriate locations, such as homes and personal businesses, consequently designating casinos, slot machines and bookmaking as the only forms of authorized gambling activities. The bill also aims to place a quota on the amount of authorized casinos, which would lower the current tally down from sixty to fifty casinos.

The quota issue is what has caused the most controversy as of late, and is precisely why the bill is going to receive a second debate hearing. The head of the Russian Finance Ministry, Alexey Savatyugin, went so far to say that all of the quotas should be removed entirely, or, at least to have the way in which the quotas are structured in the bill, be drastically changed. So far, it appears that these suggestions have been taken seriously, for according to local legislative news reports, the bill is undergoing a revision that would create a precedence of setting quotas according to the number of residents in a particular region.

For residential or non-industrialized regions, it appears this quota will be set at a ratio of one casino per 200,000 residents, and for industrialized areas such as those in major cities like Moscow, the quota will be cut in half at a ratio of one casino per 100,000 people. Further details of the bill suggest that any business undertaking casino gambling activities be required by law to have $22.4 million in assets, 80% of gains to be generated by slot machines and have a legally issued gaming license.

When the changes have been finalized, the bill will go through a second reading, after which more changes may be made, and then followed by a third reading.  It is during the third reading when all of the contents of the bill will be openly shared with the public. Pending the scheduling of future readings and whether or not the bill even gets approved, it would likely not go into effect until 2009.  The $6 billion per year gambling industry in Russia will go on as usual until further notice, drawing the bulk of its business from high rolling casino gamblers.  In regards to online gambling, the current bill does not refer to this growing sector, which more Russians are participating in on a daily basis. With no lobbying efforts taking place and a surprising amount of Russian adults supporting a casino gambling ban, the prospects of a regulated online gambling industry look very slim.