Casinos for Foreigners Only to Open in Kazakhstan

cover Photo: elements.envato.com

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed amendments to the law on the tourism industry and children’s sports. The changes will allow casinos to open in several tourist zones across Kazakhstan, but access will be limited to foreign nationals and stateless persons, Orda.kz reports.

The new gambling zones may be established on the Caspian coast in Mangistau Region, in Panfilov District, on the Alakol coast in Zhetysu Region, in Talgar District of Almaty Region, as well as in the Markakol and Zaisan districts of East Kazakhstan Region.

Under the new rules, casinos, slot machine halls, and bookmaker offices with cash desks may operate in these areas. At the same time, the law explicitly bans the placement of such facilities on the territory of specially protected natural areas, as well as on historical and cultural sites and defense lands.

The law also grants visitor centers official tourist site status, updates regulations for guides and tour guides, expands support measures for tourism infrastructure, and introduces a mandatory audit for the operator responsible for distributing extrabudgetary funding for sports.

Earlier, we reported that the Kazakh authorities had approved the creation of gambling zones outside Konaev and Borovoye. The Ministry of Tourism said local akimats would determine the exact sites, and that each new casino could bring in two to three billion tenge in tax revenue and create around 500 jobs.

Read also:

Latest news

view all