12 Oct 2006
The United States is not the only country that is taking a firm stand on the gambling industry. While online gambling seems to be the target of the US, the Russian authorities are going for the country’s flourishing land-based gambling industry. Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has recently suggested that, in a bid to stop the expansion of wagering in his country, all gambling activity should be concentrated in four sparsely populated areas in Russia.
The Russian premier indicated that four restricted gambling territories would be assigned to the industry and they would be largely unpopulated regions. Putin suggested that two regions would be assigned for gambling in Eastern Europe Russia, one in Sibera and one in the Far East region of Russia. The gambling activity would take place largely in flatlands and wooded regions, dramatically changing the face of gambling in the former Soviet country. Putin is hoping that Russian lawmakers will speed up the bill so that it can come into effect as quickly as possible.
Many feel that gambling, like alcohol-abuse, has become a serious social problem in Russia. The new law aims at making it physically difficult for people to get to a gambling center, although the general consensus is that it will increase the number of illegal wagering companies in the country.
