On July 1, 2010, one month after the full force of the UIGEA is implemented, Russia’s laws restricting land-based casinos to special economic zones will be one year old. As such, Russia’s FSB security outfit has been busy, shutting down a private casino in Moscow just the other day. Now they’ve reached out to shutter casinos in Daghestan, in the southernmost part of Russia, where they’ve found an unlikely ally: Islamic fundamentalists.
On May 13, Shariat jamaat, the local branch of the North Caucausus Islamic insurgency, issued a warning to ‘gambling dens and bordellos’ to close up shop in three days, or else. The FSB’s raids were launched on May 16 — the third day of the insurgents’ three-day warning. It ain’t just politics that’s makes strange bedfellows. Read more.
