Russia's flourishing underground casinos

Subject: Russia's flourishing underground casinos Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:45 pm

Illegal gambling has spread rapidly across Russia since a new law came into force last July banning casinos and slots machines in towns and cities, according to a senior police officer in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

Col Oleg Bolderov of the economic crimes department of the Russian police said they had carried out thousands of raids over the past eight months.

"We have closed down 70 casinos and 4,000 slot-machine arcades... and have brought 600 criminal cases against those trying to organise this (illegal gambling)," he said.

A police video of one of the raids given to the BBC shows heavily armed officers dressed in black, breaking into an illegal casino and catching the staff and punters red-handed.

Brandishing automatic weapons, two police officers stand over a poker table busy with startled gamblers.

But despite the crackdown, well-placed sources connected to the formerly legal gambling industry say underground gambling dens continue to flourish in the capital, Moscow, and in St Petersburg, while in more far-flung cities very little actually changed when the law came into force last July.

'Gambling rife'

There are also allegations that some senior police officers are actively offering to protect illegal casinos in return for huge pay-offs.

"We were approached by a police official who told us that for $400,000 per month we could stay open," said one source who wished to remain anonymous.

Even Col Bolderov admits that authorities are fighting a losing battle against the continuing huge demand for gambling as well as against corrupt officials.

"One of the most probable explanations for the rise of illegal gambling is corruption," he says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8524705.stm

Russia's flourishing underground casinos

Russia's flourishing underground casinos

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