President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, plans to construct a sort of Las Vegas on the empty territory outside Almaty. According to the officials, new entertainment complex would help to control the growth of casinos and gambling in Almaty. In fact, Kazakh authorities restrict gambling in any possible ways because it objects important cultural beliefs. For those who do not know, the cultural norm of Kazakhstan is modesty.
Currently, Almaty has nearly forty casinos. The direction of President Nazarbayev is to move the casinos and the hundreds of smaller gambling businesses out of the city to the shores of Lake Kapchagai, approximately fifty miles away. Lake Kapchagai is already popular in the hot Kazakh summers, despite the shabby Soviet industrial town nearby. Of course, the shores of Lake Kapchagai will host not only casinos, but also beautiful hotels and restaurants.
Major goal behind Kazakhstan's Las Vegas is tourist attraction from all over Asia. For example, China, Kazakhstan's giant neighbor, which is famous for her gambling passion will probably bring huge part of casino profits. The owners of Almaty's casinos fear to leave behind huge investments they have already made. Furthermore, a few Kazakh oligarchs of the ruling elite might sabotage the casino building plan, since it will meet the conflict of interests.
