Urals police powerless against slot machines
Older residents reportedly frequent gambling terminals, sometimes risking limited pension income.
While Russia is discussing the killing of a wife and children in Ulyanovsk by a compulsive gambler, residents of Nizhny Tagil (Sverdlovsk Region, Russia) are filing mass complaints about gambling machines. People get hooked on them like on drugs and in a very short time lose all their property. They submit reports to the police, but are told it is a legal business.
We spoke with one of the victims. He did not kill anyone, but admitted that at one point he nearly took his own life.
«In a year and a half I lost my apartment, my car, and ran up debts»
These terminals appear widely across local grocery and hardware stores in Nizhny Tagil.
Ilya had everything needed for happiness: a good job, an apartment, a car, a loving wife. But after getting hooked on gambling machines, he lost everything and was left in debt. Now the 27‑year‑old is afraid to go outside unnecessarily. The addiction persists, and his feet carry him to one of the many machines thoughtfully installed in shops across Nizhny Tagil.
«In a year and a half I lost almost 4.5 million rubles ($45,000 at current rates). I lost my savings, sold my apartment and car, and fell into debt. I took bank loans and microloans. My wife left. I now have a credit burden of more than a million rubles (more than $10,000 at current rates). It’s a nightmare. The addiction is extremely strong and sets in fast. It’s like a drug. I understand everything, but I can’t do anything. These gambling machines are in grocery and hardware stores, and no one is fighting them. On the contrary — there are more and more of them,» Ilya told E1.RU.
Activists compile and update address lists of shops hosting the gambling terminals.
He and other victims are filing reports with the police asking for the machines to be removed — but so far it has all been in vain.
«There are about 30 of us, and everyone has the same tragic story — addiction, selling property, loans. We created a group chat. We appealed to the police in Nizhny Tagil and went to the Main Directorate to file statements — no responses came. We wrote to the Prosecutor’s Office and to the “Russkaya Obshchina” — the Russian Community — there was no reaction either. It’s utterly pointless. The machines keep running, people sit at them constantly, including teenagers and pensioners. Sometimes there are even queues.»
«There were dark thoughts that life was over»
Ilya admits that at a certain point he too might have done something irreparable, like his peer from Ulyanovsk. In a critical moment, his parents and close relatives helped the young man from the Urals.
«There were very dark thoughts that life was over and there was no point in going on. It’s unbearably hard — words can’t convey what you feel. Thank God I wasn’t alone. My parents and other relatives helped me. But even now the situation is still difficult. The debt burden hasn’t gone anywhere,» the young man says.
According to him, for financial reasons he cannot yet undergo rehabilitation or treatment — which means he cannot get a good job.
«I understand that if even 100 rubles ($1 at current rates) fall into my hands, I’ll lose them. For now, my parents essentially support and feed me. I’m trying to climb out of this hole and help others not fall into it,» Ilya admits.
Dedicated clubs with multiple terminals operate openly alongside devices inside everyday retail locations.
The young man explained how this business is set up.
«There are machines in shops where you just insert money and play, and there are special clubs with lots of machines where you buy promissory notes (vekseli), play on them, and then cash them out. I played in both places. It’s the same pattern everywhere: you start with small sums, they let you win. Then comes the downturn, and you lose everything. Trying to win it back, you start putting in more and more. You take out loans and run up debts.»
Ilya does not absolve himself of responsibility for what happened, but believes that machines placed in shops provoke people to start playing.
«People come in for bread or to a hardware store, and there these machines are. They see someone playing, try it themselves — and that’s how it starts,» our interlocutor said.
Why they operate
Machines attract younger players, who can be seen lingering at terminals for hours.
By law, slot machines and casinos must be located in special gambling zones.
At present, four legal gambling zones operate in Russia: «Yantarnaya» (Kaliningrad Region), «Krasnaya Polyana» (Krasnodar Territory), «Siberian Coin» (Altai Territory) and «Primorye» (Primorsky Territory).
«Under Federal Law No. 244‑FZ, gambling establishments, including halls of slot machines, may be located exclusively within specially created gambling zones. The law prohibits opening gambling establishments, including slot machine halls, outside the designated gambling zones, including in shops. This directly contradicts the norms of current Russian legislation,» says lawyer Oleg Shestakov.
However, there is a loophole. Only an expert can recognize a machine as a gambling device. The devices installed in shops are labeled as an “electronic trading system”; they disguise themselves as exchange‑trading tools, and so on.
«Employees of the Department for Economic Security and Anti‑Corruption of the Intermunicipal Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia “Nizhnetagil’skoye” (Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia — Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del, MVD) conducted repeated inspections — both on their own initiative and in response to citizen appeals. Electronic terminals installed in retail outlets were sent for independent examinations, the results of which did not recognize them as gaming equipment,» the police in Nizhny Tagil told E1.RU.
Thus, people play and lose large sums, but the equipment is not recognized as gambling. To understand how this is possible, we spoke to those who are fighting these machines.
«Changes to the law are needed»
«These machines exist in Yekaterinburg too — they’re just better hidden. The whole problem is that expert examinations don’t find the required gaming algorithm. It’s all coded as exchange trading. Neither the Investigative Committee of Russia (Sledstvenny Komitet, SKR) nor the Prosecutor’s Office has been able to do anything to this day. We keep getting refusals to open cases. It’s a very unpleasant and difficult situation. Apparently, changes to the law are needed. Otherwise it’s impossible to explain why these obvious things are happening in front of everyone’s eyes,» civic activist and anti‑counterfeiting campaigner Dmitry Chukreev told E1.RU.
A former employee of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes (OBEP) named Yuri agreed to speak to E1.RU on condition of anonymity. He said each new machine has to be checked separately. To do this, it must be dismantled and taken for examination to Yekaterinburg. The process lasts a month or more.
In Nizhny Tagil, however, local residents say the gambling machines are not even touched.
«No one seized them after complaints. At the very beginning, long ago, some were seized, but they couldn’t be cracked, so they couldn’t be recognized as slot machines. And the new ones that appeared weren’t even touched,» local residents claim.
However, there is little hope for expert examinations. The former police officer agrees with the activist on this.
«With 99% probability it will not be established that the equipment is for gambling. That means the terminal simply couldn’t be decrypted. A month may pass, after which the terminal is sent back and a criminal case is refused. Moreover, you can’t examine one terminal to decide on all similar ones. Each one has to be examined separately,» says Yuri.
According to him, sometimes slot machines are nevertheless cracked, and then the case moves off dead center.
«There have been such cases. Usually when they manage to detain one of the technicians or the people who configure the machines, and they hand over the passwords. Then the examination succeeds and a case is opened. Much depends on desire and will,» our interlocutor explains.
Rows of bright screens and flashing lights draw attention in neighborhood storefronts.
Residents of Kamensk‑Uralsky (Sverdlovsk Region, Russia) previously reported on invincible gambling machines. Despite regular complaints to the police and the Prosecutor’s Office, the devices continue to operate and bring profits to their owners.
We reported how a high‑ranking Urals police officer was accused of protecting a business built on gambling machines.
Read how compulsive gamblers are treated in Yekaterinburg. There is a support group of anonymous gamblers; anyone can come and receive support and qualified help.
The World Health Organization has included gambling disorder (addiction to games of chance) among serious mental disorders. People with this diagnosis need serious treatment because they can no longer cope on their own, and they are continually lured back into gambling instead of being sent to specialists. Read what well‑known addiction specialist Vasily Shurov says about this.
