Russia Bans Gambling, Shuts Down Casinos

[lick]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia closed down its casinos overnight as gambling was banned nationwide, a move the industry says could throw a third of a million people out of work.

The July 1 ban shut gaming halls, from gaudy casinos crowned by extravagant neon structures to dingy dwellings containing a handful of slot machines.

"I feel terrible. We just let 1,000 people go," said Yuri Boyev, general director at Metelitsa, an upmarket casino where billionaires rolled the dice and Russia's gas giant Gazprom held a lavish Christmas party.

The Government just made 750,000 people redundant in a recession :S:S


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090701/wl_nm/us_russia_gambling_closure

[Immenseman]

Maybe saved millions more of losing all their money with the addiction of gambling. I can see the pros and cons of the move and seeing as it's in Russia, it won't affect me.

[Wahey]

I can see the goverments reasons for this but it's still harsh imo

[Jordy]

Seems quite a communist-esque thing to do, further evidence that they're not exactly past it.

It provides many jobs and brings in a huge amount to the economy so it surprises me they'd do such a thing, apperantly it could be because of Georgian's run a lot of the casinos but Georgia is hardly a threat to Russia anyway, Russian's armed forces are all from the Soviet-Era but they could easily thrash Georgia like they did last summer so I hardly see it as much of a concern.

[GommeInc]

Hmmm, not a good move for the Russian Economy, when that's what is mainly effected - the gambling habits which as far as I can tell is the reason behind this, is only a minor issue compared to the major issues that people are now out of a jobs and the economy has/is going to take a tumble (though small, it's still bad...)

[-:Undertaker:-]

It should not be up to the government to tell people what to do with their money.

[Inseriousity.]

All the bans happen on July 1st (smoking ban in England was this day as well if I remember rightly?) Isn't that weird :p

While I think gambling is a problem for some, for the majority, it is just a bit of fun (until they lose!) who like to enjoy a night out. Governments are trying to ban everything nowadays and half the things they ban is ridiculous (I read somewhere that UK was trying to ban smoking outside bars, clubs etc as well). :(

[RastaLulz]

Absurd is right. The government should have no authority to tell individuals what they can, and can not do. Especially with such harmless thing as running a casino. Casino's are there to provide enjoyment, and a thrill.

The idea to also take 750,000 jobs away from a business that harms no one, but those who like to gamble. If anything, they should have a law on how many time you can visit a casino a month, or something (which I would not support anyways).