Te most recent scandal broke out at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was spirited out of the Olympic village by Belarusian sports officials who tried to deport her for criticising the national team. Te athlete refused to board a flight back to Belarus and is seeking asylum in Poland, with the saga once again drawing the world’s attention to the authoritarian tactics of the Lukashenko regime.
THE CASINO MARKET
Te Belarusian law permits several types of gambling, including: sports betting, land-based casino, national lotteries, online casinos and betting and slot halls.
Following the introduction of Russia’s 2009 restrictions on gambling, Minsk casinos began to organise junket tours for Russians and the Belarus casino industry began to thrive – so much so it has been called the ‘Post Soviet Las Vegas’ owing to the large number of Russian tourists who visit the country primarily to gamble.
Back in 2010 there were said to be 29 casinos and 330 slot halls operating around 9,500 slots.
In 2015 there were 32 casinos, 246 slot halls, 203 betting shops and almost 10,000 machines. Tis had dropped to 24 casinos, 165 slot halls, 174 betting shops and 6,407 machines by 2017. It is said around 50 to 70 per cent of revenues come from visiting Russian players.
Meanwhile, the Covid pandemic hit Belarus hard and venues have struggled with closures. According to the Ministry of Taxes and Duties, which controls the sector revenues managed to maintain a level and as of July 2020 the budget had received BNR20.8m in taxes from the gambling sector whilst income tax from winnings amounted to BNR19.8m (see chart).
In mid-March last year, the Russian authorities unilaterally closed the Russian-Belarus border
to prevent Belarusians crossing the border to curb the spread of Covid-19. However, Belarus didn’t reciprocate and Russians were free to cross into Belarus. Tere was also an influx of visitors from Turkey and Israel around this time, however, customer numbers still dropped significantly.
Many casinos closed temporarily and re-opened in August/September last year. By spring 2020 there were just seven casinos open in Minsk.
By January 2021 there were 117 licences issued for betting, gambling halls and casinos, of which 103 are active. Tere are almost 300 gambling establishments made up of 26 casinos, 195 slot halls and 102 bookmaker offices. A total of 134 gaming tables and 5,975 slots have been registered by operators.
Gambling tax receipts amounted to BNR39.6m (US$15.6m) with BNR37.6m ($14.8m) collected
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P69
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128
