Police in Moscow have shut down an illegal casino operating on the premises of a public university.
The gambling den, located at Moscow State University of Instrument Engineering and Infomatics, was taking in 3 million to 5 million rubles a day (US$97,000-$161,000), according to an announcement by the Interior Ministry reported by RIA Novosti.
Police confiscated four card tables, three roulette tables, 70 slot machines counterfeited from a well-known global manufacturer and other gambling paraphernalia.
A law passed by the State Duma in July 2009 at the urging of President Vladimir Putin effectively dismantled the country’s thriving casino industry by banning it from major cities and exiling it to four outlying “zones”: one on the lower Don River near the Sea of Azov, one in Kaliningrad, one in Central Asia and one on the Pacific coast around Vladivostok.
The effect has been to drive much of the business underground where it is subject to periodic police crackdowns.
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