Casino Premier Saint-Petersburg

Premiere Casino in St. Petersburg was one of the best gambling institutions of the northern capital of the Russian Federation. I visited this casino several times during my business trips related to journalism in 2004-2009. At that time I visited about five casinos a day and Premiere Casino was always on my mandatory list. I remember strange, pre-revolutionary layout of this historical building at the intersection of Nevskiy and Vladmirskiy avenues in the heart of St. Petersburg. I remember the VIP lounge named Incognito; remember a white piano and the main staircase. I remember the friendly staff and courteous management of the casino.

Of course, I took chips for my collection in Premiere but their nominal value was low. During the entire time of its operation, the casino played only for Russian rubles. Accordingly, chips were nominated only in rubles. These were good chips but I found the real treasure only years after the casino had been closed. In 2016, my friend Pavel Aleksanyan who used to work in Premiere before gifted me a plaque of 100,000 rubles that was used in this gambling institution. This plaque, made of “mother of pearl” by Bourgogne et Grasset, had one particular feature, the name of the city was misspelt on it! Instead of Saint Petersburg, it was spelt as: Sankt-Petersburg. I think it looked very funny in a respectable casino in the heart of the cultural capital of Russia. I wonder who made this severe mistake and what consequences were for his or her career, if any. Apparently, when the mistake was found, it was too late to change the order for manufacturing expensive chips.

When I got this plaque, there was a hope that I could find the remaining chips of this casino. In the same year of 2016, I went to St. Petersburg but, unfortunately, all chips were confiscated by the police from the underground casino in 2011 and, most likely, were disposed of.

For me, chips from Premiere Casino in St. Petersburg are one of the most favorite. Premiere Casino was rightfully a leader in the gambling business of Russia and is now in my collection.

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