Month: July 2020

I was lucky enough to play Texas Holdem at Seychelles in 2014 at Casino Eden. At that time, it was a new casino located in the eponymous residential complex Eden near the capital on the island of Mahe. This very friendly place immediately captivated me and I spent many nights playing Texas Holdem at Eden Casino. There I met the local patrons and learned a lot about the Seychelles gambling business. For example, a lot of rich people from all over the world live and rest on the island, but it is almost impossible to attract them to the casino. That the casinos on the islands are constantly opening and closing because they cannot generate the income necessary for survival. And that, in principle, you should not come to Seychelles to play in a casino 🙂

A motley company gathered at the poker table at Eden Casino – there were entrepreneurs from China, pensioners from Europe, and Russians who chose Seychelles as their permanent residence. Of all the players, I singled out one – Frank Tristan Poyet, a local who was 74 at the time. He was, in every sense, a player who looked impressive and played well poker and roulette. He was even allowed to walk around the casino wearing a hat (in general, hats are prohibited in all casinos for security reasons), he looked so cool in it and he was such a regular among the playing audience.

The management of Eden Casino was so friendly that I was allowed to do a small photo session in the VIP room. I interviewed Frank Tristan Poyet and took some cool photos with him.

I also played blackjack at Eden Casino – there were very good bonuses during  lucky hours. In fact, by playing blackjack just a couple of hours a day at Eden Casino with these bonuses, one could live comfortably on the Seychelles for a lifetime.

I wanted to definitely return to Eden Casino for its relaxed and friendly poker and blackjack game. But in about a year after I left, the casino closed. Chips remained as a memory.

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I was at Oracul casino in the Russian gambling zone “Azov-City” twice in my life. For the first time – in 2010, when the casino had just opened. The second time – before shutdown – in December 2018.

Oracul casino was the first legal casino in Russia after Vladimir Putin closed all casinos in 2009 and determined four (later five) special gambling zones for the gambling business. The Azov-City zone was located between the Rostov region and the Krasnodar Territory among the endless fields of Russia. It was there on the desert land that the Oracul casino was opened.

Frankly, when I first visited Oracul, I did not believe that a casino could be profitable, being so far from cities. It was a lone hangar, literally in the center of the field.  But I was wrong. Already before the closing (the guys in the Kremlin once again outplayed everything and decided to close this gambling zone) I saw how popular the Oracul casino became. Of course, this was no longer a lonely hangar – hotels were built there, additional halls and a couple of other casinos were nearby. In fact, this could be called the formation of Russian Las Vegas. If not for the knowledge that soon all this should have closed…

Oracul casino has an area of ​​12,000 square meters. The plans, which were never destined to come true, were the opening of a sports ground, retail space and various related entertainment. On a vast territory was much to expand. But even in 2018, the casino inside was not inferior to similar large projects in Europe. Hundreds of slot machines, dozens of tables for playing cards and roulette, entertainment programs, poker tournaments, raffles of valuable prizes… And, of course, there were chips of my favorite company Matsui. I typed them myself for a collection of different denominations.  Also, the casino management gave me an Oracul card made of solid gold. These cards were issued to the most coveted casino VIP-players:

Ultimately, I think that the Oracul casino in the Azov-City gambling zone in Russia was one of the most ambitious and successful modern time projects in the gambling industry. Until it came across another arbitrariness of the authorities . Here are the chips used there:

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