|
Gambling in Russia is legal in only four regional subject areas, and in 2009 was made illegal in all other areas of Russia. ==Public Policy Economics Perspective== Gambling has been a major policy problem for the Russian government since the early 21st century. The problem was the rapidly increasing number of slot machines and gambling houses, including casinos, spreading all over the country. This caused a little concern for the government. According to city officials, after the year 2002 there were 58 casinos, 2,000 gaming rooms and approximately 70,000 slot machines in Moscow.〔(Gambling Industry Flourishes in Russia )〕 It became a greater problem for the government because the younger population was widely exposed to the obtrusive advertising of gambling houses. Teenagers missed school to crowd around slot machines hoping to win some money. This behavior affected the society’s welfare in a way that was external to the market, thus, giving rise to a negative externality. Experts from the Russian Association of Gambling Business Development claimed that approximately half a million people on a regular basis indulged in gambling in the capital city of Moscow. At the same time, city psychiatrists, who met with people addicted to excessive gambling, provided quite different information arguing that the number was much higher. “The head of the extra-hospital aid in the National Narcological Scientific Center Taras Dudko says that the number of people regularly going to Moscow casinos, bookmaking offices and gambling houses is over 1.5 million people”.〔(Russian Roulette: Gambling in Russia )〕 Additionally, money laundering was another concern of every city government that failed to collect estimated tax revenue from gambling businesses, that kept the profits and did not share them with the city by avoiding tax payment.〔 These were the major rationales for the government to get involved and implement a policy on gambling restriction. One of the policy solutions to solve the gambling problem in Russia was proposed in the form of limiting the number of gambling establishments throughout the country. Additionally, the Moscow officials proposed to bar slot machine parlors within 500 yards of a residential area, which would force operators out of all urban areas in the country in order to protect the young generation from being tempted to lose money using slot machines.〔Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 29 декабря 2006 г. N 244-ФЗ О государственном регулировании деятельности по организации и проведению азартных игр и о внесении изменений в некоторые законодательные акты Российской Федерации ()〕 The major policy problem about excessive gambling in the Russian society and their people’s continuous discontent with the spread of gambling houses all over the country finally led to the implementation of federal policy. Russia closed down its casinos overnight as gambling was banned nationwide. Thus since July 1, 2009, according to the Federal Law № 244 “On state regulation of organization and management of gambling”, the gambling business in Russia has been allowed only in four designated zones.〔 The ban was to protect the health of society, and was expected to put an end to the era which witnessed an eruption of gambling fueled by a lawless business culture, which caused great costs to the society. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gambling in Russia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|