November is a memorable month for the Russian gambling industry. The first Tigre De Cristal Casino was opened on November 11, 2015, in the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone after a one-month soft opening on October 8.
Soft Opening of Tigre De Cristal
Soft opening or test opening of Tigre De Cristal took place on October 8. The soft opening is a common international practice. Casinos want to check all systems after extensive internal testing. The gambling establishment receives feedback from its first customers to refine and perfect all its operations. The employees of casinos collect and systematize all opinions of visitors. They also debug all systems.
Over one thousand guests, including government officials, businessmen, journalists, and those who had been lucky enough to receive an invitation, attended the soft opening of Tigre De Cristal. They enjoyed free drinks, various delicious dishes, live music, and official speeches. The performance of Eric Landheer, a Director of Corporate Finance and Strategy, was auspicious:
Despite the challenges of recent times, we have preserved a positive attitude and faith in the reliability of our investment in Primorye. We have fulfilled our obligations by investing 200 million dollar. We are going to invest 500 million dollars in the second phase, and our investment will eventually rise to 900 million dollars. We have fully supplied our company with qualified staff. At the moment of casino opening over 1 thousand workers will form the staff of the company. After the successful finish of the second phase we are going to hire roughly 3 million people. Our aim is to raise the Russian gambling business to the world standards of transparency and fairness with the high level of services and best global practices.
After the obligatory official speeches and the end of the ceremony for VIP guests, the casino opened its doors to all visitors at 8.00 p.m. Over the next four hours, almost 5,000 players and curious visitors stormed the entrance to the casino. Over 9,000 customers received a club card of Tigre De Cristal in the first hours.
Photographs and videos had been permitted, so social networks were full of photos and comments from those who had attended the Opening Ceremony of Tigre De Cristal. Users shared their emotions and opinions, for example:
Friends! Yesterday we visited the soft opening of the first casino in Primorsky region. The first thing that caught my eye was parking. There were no free places for many people. Cars were left on the road. When you are going to visit a casino, you expect to see a lot of pathos, well-founded pathos. For example, the building should have the shape of a tiger, and the entrance should resemble its mouth. Or it should be a huge skyscraper. There are just two rectangles here. As for the atmosphere, it was permitted to take photos. This was quite confusing. The staff was very friendly that was a great advantage. There are a lot of small imperfections inside. This casino will be in great demand among the Chinese. What can be said in the end? Everything that was in Artem remains in Artem.
20 thousand individuals visited Tigre De Cristal in one month from its soft opening till the Grand Opening Ceremony.
Grand Opening
The casino was closed to the public from 08:00 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. on November 11 because of the official opening ceremony. The ceremony was closed, i.e., it was attended only by those who had invitations: governmental dignitaries, members of parliament, officials of partner companies, and representatives of regional business, as well as journalists of local and national media. The event was also attended by VIP guests, the CEO of Melco International, Lawrence Ho, and the Vice-Governor of Primorsky Territory, Sergey Nekhaev.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Craig Ballantyne, the CEO of G1 Entertainment, who welcomed guests in an unusual outfit - the Scottish national dress- expressed confidence that this project would attract additional investment in all areas of tourism in the region. The next speaker, a Director of Corporate Finance and Strategy of G1 Entertainment, Eric Landheer, assured those who were present at the ceremony:
"We want to raise the quality of services in the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone to the highest level, so we constantly ready to handle our errors, so all imperfection will be properly corrected. We will also improve the operation of our resort complex."
Lawrence Ho invested approximately 200 million dollars in the construction of the first gambling and resort complex called Tigre De Cristal. These funds were used to build a casino that occupied an area of roughly 8,000 sq m and a hotel with 120 rooms. Currently, Tigre De Cristal is the largest and most technically equipped casino in Russia. It has 498 pokie machines, 42 tables for traditional board games, and 25 VIP tables.
According to the Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, all rooms in the hotel of the first casino in the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone have already been booked till the end of the year:
The first object is practically put into operation, and the fact that there were no free rooms in the hotel made a good impression. They were booked in advance, primarily by our guests from abroad. This indicates the significant economic benefits for the Primorsky region.
The official part of the Grand Opening Ceremony was followed by the afterparty, where the show-ballet Soho Dolls and the pop group Band'Eros entertained the guests. Tigers were running on the walls of the main hall. The roulette was being spun. Cards were forming combinations, and rolled dice were forming piles. These effects were demonstrated to visitors using the huge projector. The dancers in tiger body paint performed for visitors. The magnificent fireworks appeared at 11.00 p.m. above the Muravinnaya Bay, which marked the end of the official celebration.
The Scandal about the Tiger
One of the heroes of the Grand Opening Ceremony was the mascot of Tigre de Cristal, namely a five-month-old Siberian tiger cub called Crystal, which had been purchased for the casino from the Wonderful Zoo located near Ussuriysk. Crystal was paraded on the scene for only ten minutes, but it was enough to cause a great scandal. Animal welfare advocates noticed that the tiger was looking sleepy and heavily sedated. They thought that Crystal was heavily drugged, because the tiger was bleary-eyed and dazed.
Indeed, the wild animal could be afraid of many people, the noise, and flashes of cameras, so it had been sedated before the ceremony using sleeping pills. Zoo director Catherine Zotova explained the situation. She said that the sedative had been harmless, and Crystal was too valuable for the casinos and zoo to risk its life doing anything potentially dangerous to its health. However, environmentalists and animal welfare advocates had a cause to criticize this event, and even the police launched an investigation concerning the treatment of animals from the Red Book. Tigre De Cristal was obliged to justify itself:
''Tigre de Cristal is surely against the cruel attitude towards animals. We intend to preserve Siberian tigers via various corporate social responsibility initiatives. We provide support and funds for food and accommodation of a tiger cub, - said the representative of the casino in the report. - We wrote a letter to employees of the zoo, expressing our deep concern about the incident. The staff assured us that a light sedative had been injected to a tiger in order to transport the animal and allow it to prevent aggressiveness from the public and noise.''
On November 19, Craig Ballantyne personally visited the Wonderful Zoo to see the casino's mascot. Crystal felt good. The tiger cub allowed the CEO of the Tigre de Cristal complex to pet it, feed it from the hand, and even take some photos.
Shining Prospects for Tigre De Cristal
It is expected that Tigre De Cristal will attract VIP players from North China. This is the first of at least eight casinos that will be constructed in the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone. Our final aim is to increase the flow of tourists from China, Japan, South Korea, and the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone, competing with similar resorts in Las Vegas and Macau. According to experts, the implementation of this project should attract about 8-10 million tourists annually to Primorye.
The construction of the second phase of the complex will begin in the spring of 2016. This phase involves the expansion of the playing area to 154,000 square meters, and 4 casinos, 4 hotels, several restaurants and shopping malls, theaters, and sports clubs should have been built by 2019. Craig Ballantyne talked about this:
"The construction of the so-called phase 2 is scheduled for 2016, and commissioning of all the objects is scheduled for 2018. It is supposed to be significantly larger. Apart from the casino, it will have a large concert hall, shopping mall, as well as new restaurants and bars. We also want to offer our guests excellent conditions for recreation and entertainment, namely bars, restaurants, spa, nightclubs, as well as live performances of Russian and foreign stars on the main stage of Tigre de Cristal."
After the end of the third phase of construction in 2022, the Tigre De Cristal complex will unite five casinos, seven hotels, and a water park. The Head of Tourism Department of Primorsky Krai, Konstantin Shestakov, stated: "The aim is not only to build gambling centers. We are talking about the transformation of Primorye into a real recreation area."
Competitors are keeping up with Melco International. Summit Ascent, NagaCorp, Diamond Fortune Holdings, and Royal Time Group already have projects. These companies promise to have them completed by 2022. The investment agreements worth $1.4 billion with these key investors have already been signed. After the completion of the construction, this gambling zone of 620 hectares will provide 20,000 individuals with jobs. They will have to manage and maintain operations of 16 hotels, 8 casinos, 12 guest villas, several restaurants, recreation centers, a yacht club, a ski resort, a multifunctional trade and exhibition center, theaters, shopping malls, conference centers, and other objects.
UPD: The Recent History of the Tigre de Cristal
The Tigre de Cristal casino, located in the Primorsky Integrated Entertainment Zone near Vladivostok, Russia, has been a significant player in the region's gaming and tourism sector since its opening. While the casino had a soft launch in late 2015, its story from 2016 onward is one of growth, challenges, and adaptation. Positioned to attract visitors from nearby Asian countries like China, South Korea, and Japan, as well as a domestic audience, the integrated resort has made a name for itself as a premier entertainment destination in the Russian Far East. The name itself, "Tigre de Cristal," is a nod to its location and mission, with "tiger" symbolizing the Far East and "crystal" representing the business's transparency.
Initial Operations and Early Success (2016-2017)
Following its grand opening, Tigre de Cristal quickly established itself as a major entertainment hub. In its first full year of operation, 2016, the casino was already reporting profits. A combination of factors fueled this early success:
- A strong marketing focus on the regional Asian market, offering a closer alternative to Macau for many players.
- The resort's comprehensive offerings include casino gaming, a 121-room hotel, and various dining and entertainment venues.
- The lack of other integrated resorts in the Primorye IEZ at the time gave Tigre de Cristal a first-mover advantage.
This period also saw the beginning of plans for a significant expansion, known as Phase II, which was intended to increase the resort's capacity and offerings dramatically. These plans included additional hotel rooms, more gaming tables and pokie machines, a shopping mall, and new entertainment facilities.
Ownership Changes and Expansion Delays (2018-2021)
Some shifts in ownership and management marked the years that followed. In 2017, Lawrence Ho, a key figure in the casino's development, reduced his stake in the operator, Summit Ascent Holdings. These changes did not deter the casino's operations, but the planned Phase II expansion began to experience delays. Initially slated for completion by the end of 2019, the project was pushed back several times. This was due to various factors, including changing economic conditions and the eventual onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite these challenges, the casino continued to operate and remained a key part of the region's economy. The focus shifted to maintaining and improving the existing facilities while navigating the complex business environment.
Navigating the Pandemic and New Economic Realities (2020-Present)
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the casino, particularly in 2020 and 2021. With international travel restrictions in place, the primary market of foreign tourists was cut off. This forced a central strategic pivot for the resort. Tigre de Cristal shifted its focus to the domestic Russian market. This adaptation proved successful, with a significant increase in local patronage helping the casino to recover and even generate a profit in 2022. This new strategy included:
- Targeting marketing and events towards residents.
- Developing a strong relationship with the local community.
- Focusing on the casino's mass market gaming business.
More recently, the casino has faced further challenges from geopolitical events and related sanctions. These factors have led to additional ownership discussions and the continued postponement of the long-planned Phase II expansion. Despite these difficulties, Tigre de Cristal has continued to operate and has shown a remarkable ability to adapt, reporting a profit in 2024 by continuing to focus on its local market and implementing strong cost controls.
The Future of Tigre de Cristal
The history of Tigre de Cristal since 2016 is a testament to its resilience. From its initial success and grand expansion plans to its strategic pivots in the face of a global pandemic and geopolitical challenges, the casino has remained a constant presence in the Primorye IEZ. The future will likely see a continued focus on the local market and ongoing efforts to find stability amidst a changing global environment. The long-awaited Phase II project remains a point of interest, but the current success of the casino is built on its ability to evolve and meet the demands of its current audience.
Casinoz will continue to monitor the occurring events and familiarize our readers with all the interesting news related to Tigre De Cristal and the entire Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone.
Stay tuned!
