Past and future of Yantarnaya gambling zone

Yantarnaya gambling zone lies on the coast of the Baltic Sea, 50 km from Kaliningrad, in geographical center of Europe. The law on its creation came into effect on 1 July 2009. But the real construction began only in 2014, and the first facility was put into service in April 2016. What are the reasons of this delay?

Large-scale governmental projects

Kaliningrad authorities have developed a project that included 15 casinos, 21 hotels, waterpark, theatre, stadiums and concert halls, SPA salons and shops. There was another problem apart from grandiose plans: authorities planned to shift responsibility for road building and infrastructure development onto investors.

Russian investors did not agree to collaborate on such terms. Starting from 2009 bidding rounds were postponed 10 times. The only potential investor, American company IdeAttack, that has experience in building gambling zones all over the world, was refused in sponsorship for some unknown reasons.

Seeing that investors were not interested in the project the government decided to allocate RUB 14 million for road building in gambling zone. Besides that, 14% of all investments will be spent on infrastructure development.

The first investor

The first investor was found in 2014. It was Royal Time Group, company that had already invested money in Kuban gambling zone called Azov City. The region provided it with a total area of 99.5 hectares with annual fee of RUB 15.1 million for 15 years. The minimum volume of investments was calculated to be around RUB 44.5 billion. Due to ruble’s drop the opening of the first facilities was deferred for six months, compared with the initial date in 2015.

Yantarnaya zone now and in the future

The first facility in Yantarnaya gambling zone – slot machine hall Magic Crystal – was opened in April this year. It belongs to Neverland. Operator got a license on 1April, and in three days the hall was already accepting its first customers in testing mode. The official opening will take place on 27 April.  

There are 150 gambling machines in Magic Crystal. Each of them pays RUB 7.5 thousand in taxes.

The first stage of construction in gambling zone has to be completed with erection of 4-star hotel, casino, SPA salon and conference hall. The project also foresees providing of public amenities for walking.

Construction activity will last till 2029. When it’s completed, the gambling zone will be able to offer around 10 thousand workplaces. Estimated annual budget revenue will amount to RUB 3 billion.