occur on Wednesday, and the Kremlin itself is decreeing it, economic

crisis or not.

The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine

parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin
that just a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the

result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work.

And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical

overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option

for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia

as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans

-- Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean

Border! -- may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the

government envisions.