Revenues at the Altai Palace, Siberia’s only casino, continue to rise, but growth has slowed dramatically, with net profits on the decline.
The development may come as a warning for the Kremlin, which has recently approved an ambitious plan to create a new gambling zone just a few dozen kilometers away.
In its annual financial report, Altai Palace posted revenues of over $15 million, a 3.3% rise on last year’s figures.
However, last year’s growth exceeded 17%, leading many analysts to believe the casino was on an irreversible upward trajectory.
Siberia’s Only Casino: A Warning to Developers?
Land-based casinos are illegal in Russia, with the exception of five dedicated gambling zones. One of these is the Siberian Coin zone in Altai Krai.
That number will soon rise to six, after the Kremlin approved a Sberbank-backed plan to add a casino and a luxury hotel in the nearby Altai Republic.
Altai Palace’s net profits fell by almost 5%, with gross profits also falling by 0.1%, the Russian media outlet NGS22 reported.
The news will raise questions about the viability of the new Altai Republic development. Experts have said the casino, which will be based at the existing Manzherok ski resort, will be “on a par with those of Macao.”
Sberbank is Russia’s biggest commercial bank and one of the country’s wealthiest companies.
But the news from Altai Palace may give the developers pause for thought.
The media outlet reported that the casino’s operator has attributed the slowdown in growth to “a combination of economic and geopolitical factors.”
These include an unstable international environment, US, EU, and UK-led sanctions regimes, increased uncertainty in capital markets, and a weakening ruble.
As decision-makers mulled the Altai Republic’s proposal last year, industry experts called on the Kremlin to ditch their plan.
Officials instead urged the Kremlin to consider approving a gambling zone on the outskirts of Moscow.
Moscow’s Casino Pivot
Casino expansion plans are also underway in another Russian gambling zone: Kaliningrad.
Shambala, the operator of casinos in Kaliningrad’s Yantarnaya zone and the far-eastern Primorsky Krai, says it has won approval to add a five-floor luxury hotel and casino complex to its existing single-story Kaliningrad facility.
Gaming chiefs are urging lawmakers to back the Ministry of Finance’s plans to legalize online casinos. The ministry wants to tax online operators at a rate of 30% per year, minus winnings payouts.
Meanwhile, in the Perm region, a court has jailed two unnamed individuals for over four years. A Perm District court found the duo guilty of operating four illegal gambling clubs in Perm and Krasnokamsk between September 2022 and December 2024.
The court also ordered 11 female accomplices, described as gambling den employees, to pay “substantial” but undisclosed fines, the Russian media outlet Tsargrad reported.
