Russian Prime Minister orders to create gambling zone in annexed Crimea by 2022

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a government decree on the establishment of the "Golden Coast" gambling zone near the city of Yalta in Russian-occupied Crimea by 2022.

The document is published on Russia's legal information portal, as reported by Russian news agency TASS on Monday. The area of the gambling zone, which will be located in the urban-type settlement of Katsiveli near Yalta, is expected to be almost 147,000 square meters, the publication wrote. 

The authorities of the Russia-occupied Crimea had sent a package of documents to Russia's Finance Ministry to create the said gambling zone on the territory of the former health resort "Fortuna," as was reported in September. Earlier, the head of Russia-occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said the gambling zone would be focused primarily on visitors and wealthy patrons.

“All decisions have been formalised, all agreements will be concluded this year. The place has already been determined at a public hearing. It is the village of Katsiveli. During November, all procedures must be completed, the facility has already been prepared. We must complete everything in two years. Investors will be able to create this gambling zone in line with world standards,” Aksyonov said, as reported by G3 Newswire. He added that a large operator was allegedly ready to sign up for the project.

According to experts, the occupied region's budget may receive RUB 25 billion, or USD 390 million annually if the project is implemented. 

A civilian terminal is being created at Belbek airport, currently a military airport in Sevastopol, from where visitors can then drive 70km to the southern coast of Crimea. At the end of December 2018, the Azov-City gambling zone was liquidated in the Krasnodar Region of Russia. It opened in 2009 and became the first gambling area in Russia after restrictions on gambling had been introduced in the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the creation of a gambling zone in Crimea back in July 2014, a few months after the annexation of the peninsula. Similar gambling zones have already opened in Sochi and the Primorye zone in the Far East, but the construction of gambling infrastructure in the Crimea has been repeatedly postponed.