Down on their luck: Minsk casinos hit by Russian downturn | World news | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/19/down-on-their-luck-minsk-casinos-hit-by-russian-downturn
The casinos of Belarus’s capital were once so full of rich players from Moscow that some called it the “Russian Las Vegas”.
Flush in cash, gambling dens such as the XO and Carat gave away Hummers and Range Rovers just to make the eight-hour drive back to Moscow, where gambling has been illegal since 2009, more enjoyable. High rollers would bring $100,000 to play for a weekend, and the luxury property market grew as rich Russians bought apartments and installed their local mistresses in them.