The Plague Years

"Many first-time visitors to Moscow are struck by the preponderance of Las Vegas-style casinos, which have mushroomed in the city centre in the last five years. Casinos are big business in Moscow. Russian psychologists claim that locals, beguiled by the boom in opportunities to speculate since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and spurred on by a sense of economic fatalism, are increasingly turning to gambling."

Source: The Economist.com (City Guides Moscow August 1, 2005)










Moscow casino
Photo credit: AFP via Economist.com