Casinos Outlawed

Effective from July 1 the activity of casinos and gambling machine businesses became illegal throughout Russia except only in four “gambling zones,” none of which is anywhere close to biggest Russian cities. Apparently, all Russian casinos in fact preferred to shut down rather than move to those zones. Bookmaking, instant lotteries, and poker clubs are still allowed under a number of conditions.

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1196523 (Russ.)