Azart is an integral component of mankind. No political or economic cataclysms can stop the Homo Sapiens passion for such entertainment. The USSR lasted more than 70 years. Over the years, the industry of gambling in the country of Soviets has come from underground casinos and katrans to official terrestrial casinos.
The formation of the gambling industry in the USSR (1917-1960)
As soon as the Bolsheviks came to power, they published a huge number of decrees. One of the first was the ban on gambling. The leaders of the country believed that such entertainment is a relic of the past, since a Soviet person should not fall under the influence of bourgeois-capitalist entertainment. All gambling establishments were closed, but many of them continued to work illegally, in the underground format. At the same time, from 1917 to 1924. Several lotteries were organized, but most of them were not even played out.
With the advent of the NEP (new economic policy), the ban on gambling was partially removed and card and lottery clubs appeared in the country, as well as establishments in which it was possible to play roulette. An interesting fact was that playing for money in such places was prohibited. That is, gambling visitors had fun for interest. By the way, in 1922 the All -Union lottery was successfully implemented. Most of the money received from those who wanted to purchase tickets was directed to help the starving Volga region. Already in 1928, gambling was again banned by the special decree of Soviet power. The reasons for this was the curtailing of the NEP and the study, which showed that such entertainment became the most popular among citizens of the USSR, and this, according to the authorities, was not permissible. Only state lotteries and partly rates on sports remained permitted.
In the 50s, the country really was not up to entertainment, since it was restored after a difficult war and Stalinist repressions, but at that time permission appeared to organize totalizers (races on jumps). The people went rumors that the unofficial curator of the hippodrome was Budyonny, the famous Marshal of the USSR. Until the 70s of the last century, races were the only official gambling for citizens of the USSR. In the early 60s, an article appeared in the Criminal Code that tightened the punishment for organizing gambling and involving Soviet citizens in them.
Underground establishments of the late 60s and in the 70s
These years can be characterized as the flowering of underground casinos and katrans, where card games were organized for money. The city of Sochi has become the real center of illegal gambling. Here they played the cards almost everywhere: in cafes, on the beaches, in sanatoriums, in apartments specially rented for these purposes. In Moscow, there were also underground katrans, but they were visited by very wealthy citizens of the country: the so -called workshops, director of factories and factories, officials, and even some representatives of the party elite. It was possible to get here only on the recommendation. Just like that, “from the street”, it was impossible to enter the underground institution. Interestingly, in many Moscow katrans, the game took place on special chips resembling an attribute of a real casino. After the game, they exchanged for money. The curator of most underground establishments was the famous Shuler - Igor Saleev (Gosha India).
70-80s: Sportloto, first slot machines and casinos
The first circulation of the famous lottery was carried out in the fall of 1970. A little later, such well -known draws appeared as Sprint, Sport Prognosis and others. The state lotteries had gigantic revolutions at that time - 500 billion rubles a year! In the early 70s, the first slot machines appeared on Soviet cruise liners. A little later, as an experiment, the first “one -armed bandits” appeared in one of the Estonian hotels. By the beginning of the 80s, a lot of semi-legal machine guns stood in a number of resort cities of the USSR.
In 1989, almost before the collapse of the USSR, the first legal casino appeared in Tallinn (Estonia). It was open at the Intourist hotel and was called Astoria Palace. Only foreigners could visit it, and the bets were made exclusively in the convertible currency. In the same year, another casino appeared in the Savoy Hotel in Moscow. It was available to play roulette, poker, baccaram and billiards. A little later, the first “ruble” casino - “club N” opened on Leninsky Prospekt of the capital. By the end of 1989, many cities of the country began to open in many cities of the country in many hotels in slot machines. At first they played only on currency, and a little later it became possible to rotate the drums into rubles with a minimum rate of 20 kopecks.
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