Casinos in the Primorye gaming zone in Russia’s far east offered updates on their development during a recent visit by a federal politician, who may not have liked what he heard.
On Tuesday, Primorye Gov. Vladimir Miklushevsky took Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District representative Yuri Trutnev on a tour of the gaming zone just outside Vladivostok to get progress reports on the four casino projects in varying states of development.
Tigre de Cristal is currently the zone’s only operational casino, having officially opened its doors last October. G1 Entertainment, Tigre de Cristal’s Lawrence Ho-controlled operator, said construction on phase two would start in the spring of 2017, later than the late-2016 timeline announced in March.
Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp is also warning of possible delays in getting its Primorye casino up and running. Originally targeting a “not later than 2018” opening, company VP Hau Chang Ping said Tuesday that the property was now committing only to opening by the end of 2018.
NagaCorp’s VP said the project had run into an unexpected snag after apparently unearthing some archaeological finds on its building site. However, these historical items have been preserved and the necessary permits have since been reactivated, so barring the future discovery of any Romanov bones, NagaCorp’s good to go.
In March, domestic casino operator Diamond Fortune Holdings said its $900m Selena World Resort & Casino would open the first of its planned three phases by late 2017, although the new timeline says the first phase won’t arrive until 2018.
The fourth Primorye operator, domestic firm Royal Time Group, also promised a 2017 opening for its Phoenix property but Russian media declined to offer updates on the project’s expected opening date.
