Putin gambles on a USD 4.6B complex of 16 super-casinos in Siberia

The Russian President's new complex on the eastern fringe of Siberia, will boast a 1,500-acre gambling area. Gamblers from across Asia and the West are being encouraged to visit the venue in the Pacific capital of Vladivostok - where temperatures drop to minus 20 degrees centigrade in winter - when it opens next month.

With the Russian economy on a roller-coaster due to low oil prices and Western sanctions, the Kremlin strongman is trying to boost this neglected region of his vast empire, seven time zones east of Moscow.

In fact, he sees it as a sure fire wager, using Russian glamour to tap the lucrative market of near-neighbour China, along with Japan and South Korea, plus any Western gamblers intrigued by the new casino city.

Croupiers and dealers are among 700 staff recruited and trained for the opening of the first of 16 casino-hotel complexes at Primorye Entertainment Zone - 30 miles from Vladivostok, headquarters of the Russian Pacific Naval Fleet and a city closed to foreigners in the Cold War.

A seasoned Scottish gaming industry professional with a reputation for being a tenacious fraud investigator, Craig Ballantyne, has been put in charge of the first development, the Tigre de Cristal complex, as chief operating officer.

'There are 120 million gambling-mad Chinese, Japanese and Koreans living within two hours' flying time of this place,' he said recently, pointing to the rationale for the development.

Macau magnate Lawrence Ho's gambling investment company Summit Ascent Holdings is responsible for the first casino complex, which will cost £320million. To start with this will comprise 47 gaming tables - five for VIPs - and 759 slot machines in a £110m first phase, along with a 121-room hotel.

This will rise to 100 VIP gaming tables and 500 hotel rooms as the development expands, with more scheduled casinos opening in the next decade.

'Other major casino and hotel complexes will rapidly come on stream in coming years, with the aim of making this gambling zone near Vladivostok one of the big names in the world,' The Siberian Times reported.

In fact, while starting on a modest scale and despite unexplained delays, Russia sees the scheduled opening on August 28 as the start of a fully-fledged gambling city to bring huge revenue and employment to this battered region.