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Location of Sochi gambling zone to be determined by mid-July — deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak says it will take a few days to decide on the exact location

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Metsel

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak

© ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Metsel

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GORKI, July 08. /ITAR-TASS/. The exact location of a gambling zone in Sochi, on Russia’s Black Sea coast, will be determined within ten days, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told journalists on Tuesday.

“The issue is being discussed, and I think we will need another ten days to decide on the exact location,” he said, adding that “the principled decision on the establishment of a gambling zone in Sochi has been taken, and we have supported it.”

Kozak explained that this was primarily connected with the need to improve financial models of those projects credited with loans from Vnesheconombank, Sberbank and other banks.

“We should ensure that these projects pay off and do not go bankrupt,” he said, noting that private investors generally considered that a gambling zone in Sochi significantly improved those projects’ financial models and helped to recover funds spent on already implemented ones.

The deputy prime minister confirmed that the gambling zone would be located in Sochi, without specifying the exact location. He said there were also plans to close the Azov City gambling complex on the border of the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region, though the matter was still under discussion.

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