Ukraine's Casino Gambling Crackdown Fuels Worker Protest

A legislative ban closing all casinos passed in the Ukraine Friday led to workers publicly protesting the prospect of losing their jobs.

Friday, the Ukrainian parliament passed a proposal to immediately stop all gambling and shut down all casinos in the country, only allowing gaming to exist in the future in a designated area on the Black Sea. Today, angry gaming industry employees showed up outside President Viktor Yushchenko's office, demanding he veto the bill.

Gambling operators and workers protested that thousands of jobs would be lost, asking that any state control of gambling be eased into place at a more moderate pace.

"Let's do it step by step - let's not throw people out onto the street," said the head of the Ukrainian Casino Association, Anatoliy Nesterenko, who said as many as 200,000 people could be left jobless by the gaming ban.

The casino group leader said the industry could accept greater government involvement, including the relocation to gambling zones, but that a period of transition grandfathering in existing casinos should be allowed.

President Yushchenko has sent mixed signals on the bill, leading different agencies to report different likelihoods of his signing the law. Apparently he has found some problems with the measure, but it is uncertain whether those will be sufficient to delay his approval of the bill.