Major Belarus Casino Operator Victoria Cherry Declares Bankruptcy

The operator of Victoria Cherry, a prominent casino in central Minsk, Belarus, has closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy.

Per the media outlet Zerkalo and an official court notice posted on the Belarusian Ministry of Economy’s website, on September 29, Victoria Cherry was “declared bankrupt and ordered to close permanently.”

The casino’s website and social media channels remain active. However, the former carries a notice saying that the casino is “temporarily closed due to technical reasons.”

The bankruptcy filing shows the casino fell behind on payments to creditors in its last few months of operation. It also racked up a high tax bill and fell behind on staff benefit payments.

Regardless, the media outlet called the filing a “very unexpected bankruptcy.”

Belarus Casino Closes Doors After a Decade

The Victoria Cherry casino opened its doors in 2015. It took over facilities previously used by the Victoria Hotel, in central Minsk.

The once-popular hotel itself declared bankruptcy over a decade ago. Victoria Cherry operated two bars and a casino at the site.

The company filed a lawsuit with the Minsk Economic Court earlier this year, recent records show.

These records demonstrate that the operator first confessed to running into financial difficulties in May this year.

At this point, its debts to creditors had already risen to 2,286,200 Belarusian rubles ($674,000). The company also admitted to falling behind on tax payments and employee benefit payouts.

The court documents also show that the company’s total assets were worth less than 400,000 rubles ($118,000).

The company’s list of creditors includes a range of financial sector companies. However, its largest single debt (of almost 1 million rubles, or $295,000) is to an entrepreneur named Igor Goshko.

The latter appears to be a construction contractor who may have been commissioned to work on the casino’s facilities.

Despite its initial popularity, the casino was rocked when media reports surfaced in 2016 claiming that Victoria Cherry had been “founded using Ukrainian funds.”

Minsk retains close political ties with Russia, its most important geopolitical and trading partner.

It has moved to sanction several individuals it claims have ties to Kyiv. In turn, it has been on the receiving end of sanctions packages from the EU, the UK, Canada, and the United States.

These powers all say that they acted in response to “fraudulent elections” in 2020 and Minsk’s “complicity” with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Are Belarusian Gambling Ads Taking Over Public Spaces?

Victoria Cherry’s demise appears to have done little to dampen Belarusians’ appetite for gambling and casinos.

Earlier this month, the media outlet Nasha Niva claimed that there has been a “significant rise” in online casino and sports betting-related ads in Minsk and other major cities.

The outlet wrote: “In recent years, online casino and sports betting advertising has increased significantly in Minsk and other Belarusian cities. In some parts of the capital, you can see several promotional banners in the same area.”

The outlet wrote that casino advertising has “boomed.” It quoted a marketing expert in the betting sector as explaining that the number of casino operators in Belarus has increased in recent years.

The expert explained: “Marketing in the gambling and betting industry has always been quite aggressive. This is due to the high level of competition. Companies compete for new patrons and try to retain existing customers.”

Casinos, however, face a range of advertising restrictions in Belarus. Online casino advertising cannot contain claims about “guaranteed winnings” or use expressions such as “place a bet” or “win.”

Instead, advertisers must use wording that encourages would-be gamblers to “test [their] luck.”

Earlier this month, police in Siberia reported that they had discovered an illegal casino operating in a commercial unit in a downtown hospital.