Russia’s far east Primorye region saw an uptick in international tourism in 2015, with at least part of the bump attributed to the new Tigre de Cristal casino.
The Lawrence Ho-backed Tigre de Cristal opened on Oct. 8, the first of four confirmed casinos in the Primorye region outside Vladivostok. Since that opening, local tourism boss Konstantin Shestakov said over 30k tourists have made the trek to the Primorye gaming zone, one of only four regions in which Russia permits casinos.
Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoted Shestakov saying Primorye had welcomed nearly 365k foreign tourists in 2015, an 18.5% increase over 2014’s total. Despite the gains, Shestakov claimed it was too early to judge Tigre de Cristal’s actual drawing power.
Of those 365k tourists, 61% came from China, which is expected – along with South Korea and Japan – to be the prime markets from which Primorye’s casinos draw gamblers. Shestakov said Tigre de Cristal’s 121-room hotel is booked solid through the end of February. That month includes the Lunar New Year festivities, always a prime period of gambling activity for Chinese punters.
Meanwhile, the local authorities are doing their utmost to ensure Tigre de Cristal has no domestic competition. Shortly before 2015 came to a close, the Department of Economic Security and the Anti-Corruption Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Primorye Territory announced they’d broken up an illegal online gambling ring.
Three suspects were detained and four more placed under house arrest for their involvement in the ring, which police said had been in operation for two years. The bust capped off a busy year for Primorye authorities, who initiated nine criminal cases of illegal gambling operators in just the first six months of 2015.
