Kremlin Shuts Down All Casinos In Russia

nytimes.com:

The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin that just a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[hortonhearsdawho]

oh man, the kids are gonna be all busted up, guess disney world will have to suffice..

[MIKEBC]

Back here, MT. AND ND. AND SD. AND WY. are like our version of Siberia.

[RobinSeattle]

The Russian mob has to be loving life right now. While I have no particular love for the gambling industry (I don't gamble myself), when you ban something millions of folks want to do organized crime gets richer.

You almost wonder if this was some kind of payoff to the mob by Putin. If he had problems with the way casinos do business he should have written new legislation to clear those problems up rather than resort to this nonsense.

[vietveter]

Gambling is what I would consider a voluntary tax.
It becomes like drugs or drinking to some people; they can not stop.

It takes more money out of the economy than it provides. It also concentrates wealth from the poor to the very rich.

I am sure as hell no bible thumper and I don’t advocate closing Las Vegas or anything crazy like that but all of the small, state allowed “riverboat” gambling proceeds should be taxed at a much higher rate than is being done. After all, who pays the price for feeding and housing the fools that waste their last few bucks trying to strike it rich?

[Dragash]

If the idea behind this article was to make me side with Kremlin (with whom I do not normally see eye-to-eye), the mission has been fully accomplished.

If there is anyone with more than two surviving brain cells in Washington DC (which I doubt), they will do exactly the same as Kremlin: shut down all "casinos" in this country by government decree .

Since when is tobacco bad for you, but gambling isn't?

[Big0725]

Foolish and priggish. If these things were left up to your ilk, we'd still be wearing full length bathing suits and be covered head to toe, a la the Tal*iban dress codes.

Your time has gone!

[pokemon]

This will just make them more money.. remember when they made alcohol illegal. Best thing to do is make a destination or two, and allow every vice available to be sold or barter in that area. People are going to do it anyway, might as well contain it.

[AGarcia]

Message to President Obama:

When an industry is run by crooks and thieves, that industry is NOT necessary!

Take a hint! Wall Street?! Health Insurance?!

[Antifascist-08]

Correct.

[MrPeebles]

Wow - you are incredibly naive ...

[pragmaticdallasite]

elaborate please

[2tango]

hey guys I think I know how you all feel about this move from the Kremlin, but the truth is that this industry is always dominated by the Mob in every country.

And the Casinos are open to ripp-off anybody on their way. Sure I like to go and have go time once in a while, like everybody else, I'm a sinner as well.

But the bottom line is...Any society can live without Casinos, and Mobs

[apduncan1]

Only losers go to Casinos.

[ModernTimes1]

Bingo!...eh... you hit a jackpot!..­..eh...you betcha!

[3dtrix]

You might be able to make that case philosophically - but as a matter of accounting, since I really learned how to play Blackjack - I'm up. In the thousands. No meals have ever tasted as good as those casinos have provided me, and no sleep was ever more comfortable than in beds they paid for. If I ever turn my back on the tables, I assure you, I'll be walking away a winner...

[ModernTimes1]

If??? Reminds me If I stop drinking." That's a big "if," isn't it.
And if you don;'t walk away ( a more likely chance) you''ll be a loser. Agreed?

[rich3324]

So now gambling goes underground and the state gets no tax from it.

[yakmeat]

Unfortunately, here in the U.S. our casinos are all still open, except that here we don't use the word "casino". Here we just call them "Banks".

[2tango]

And all the players were Bonnie And Clyde

[AGarcia]

I call them "Blue Shield", "Aetna" and "Kaiser Permanente"!

They're betting you'll die or go broke first!

[Antifascist-08]

Wall St. is a casino.

Our whole economy is a casino, thanks to the speculators.

[the964kid]

This is a mafia move. Obviously the casinos were not kicking up enough money to Putin.

[pragmaticdallasite]

Say what you want about Putin and Russian politics, but this move took some ba**s to stand up to the big Casino lobbyists. That would never have been done in this country.

Casinos are indeed a tumor to society and the economy. Yes, many will lose their jobs. But the capital being spent at these Casinos will now be spent in other sectors of the economy, and those sectors will replace the employment lost from the Gambling industry-AND- it will be a much more productive and efficient use of resources. Casinos are a horrible diffusion of wealth in which the very rich who own them accumulate more wealth from the working class.

[RofWH]

What, no indigenous people to ste...er, run the casinos in Russia? No millions spent on TV ads to defeat any move to control the cro...er, indigenous folks running the gaming industry?

Sounds good to me!

[ModernTimes1]

Most of casinos are owned and/or ran by crime underground. Regardless of cover.
This move will deprive the criminals of a very important revenue stream.
And yes, many people will lose jobs.
And yes, many people who waste countless millions gambling will save their money.
Most likely new casinos will eventually be allowed.
But fewer and under more strict ownership criteria.

[SiberianRat]

Woo hoo!! Yes, it's undemocratic and being done by Kremlin decree, blah blah, but as someone who lives in a Siberian city with casinos all over the place, I'm glad to see them go. They're seedy and crime-ridden and as the article mentions, they feed the general addiction problem that is quite pervasive here. Laws are not uniformly enforced, and even if ti's by decree, it's good to see laws being implemented. If this country is going to prosper, the corruption has got to be dramatically reduced. Since local governments and law enforcement aren't doing their jobs, the Kremlin has stepped in. Russia is different than some other places, and if this were happening there I'd be alarmed. But before westerners start making all sorts of anti-Russian and anti-Putin comments, know that you don't know the complicated context here. I'd love to see Russia become a "normal" democracy, but the ramifications of the 1990s chaos is going to have to be dealt with first.

Here's an interesting story/video of PM Putin when he means business. Again, not very democratic, but this dude was skruwing over his employees and it needed to be taken care of--and it was: http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-06-06/Top_businessmen_not_immune_to_Putin_s_wrath.html

[AGarcia]

If only Obama had the nerve to do the same to the health insurance and finance industries.