In the Almaty Region, plans are being made to create a new gambling zone on the territory of the high-altitude resort "Aq-Bulaq". The regional akimat is developing a resolution on the boundaries of the future zone, while authorised bodies are finalising a draft law that will officially include the tourist centre in the list of territories where gambling is permitted for foreign citizens.
According to Cmn.kz, the memorandum on the development of "Aq-Bulaq" was signed by the akimat of the Almaty Region, the Vietnamese company "Crystal Bay Group" and the company "Cipros" owned by Timur Kulibayev.
The project is formally initiated by the Kazakhstani side through "Cipros", with the majority of funding — approximately 80% — provided by Crystal Bay. The Kazakhstani partners contribute 20%, including the participation of a local investor and infrastructural support from the akimat.
Meanwhile, the office of the akim of the Talgar District clarifies that the final scheme for distributing investments between private partners is still being developed and has not been set out in open documents. No direct budgetary injections from the region are planned — it is only a matter of assistance with administrative procedures and connection to utility networks.
Currently, "Aq-Bulaq" is a fully-fledged high-altitude resort hotel, an accredited base for athletes, and a popular winter holiday destination. However, the plan is to create "Ak Bulak Mountain Village" on its site — a modern year-round resort with a golf club, expanded hotel infrastructure, chalets and townhouses, as well as an entertainment zone.
The main innovation will be a designated area for a casino, where only guests with foreign passports will be able to gamble. The Committee for the Regulation of the Gambling Business confirms that a draft law on including the complex in the list of permitted zones is already being prepared. Its launch will require a separate resolution from the akimat establishing the boundaries of the gambling zone.
In Kazakhstan, the gambling industry remains a relatively small source of revenue. It emerged that last year, six Kazakhstani casinos contributed 17.5 billion tenge to the budget. By comparison, the tourism industry of Almaty generated 90.7 billion tenge in 2024.
Despite this, the authorities still view casinos as a tool for attracting foreign tourists, by analogy with the practice of several Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, where gambling for foreigners was legalised in 2018.
The national investment company "Kazakh Invest" reported that the project is at the pre-project stage:
- a land plot in the Talgar District has been selected;
- the development of a master plan for the resort zone has begun;
- preparation of design and estimate documentation is underway.
The expert review of the design and estimate documentation is planned to be completed by mid-2026, after which construction and installation work will begin. The akimat of the Talgar District clarifies that the topographic survey has already been completed and the materials are being approved.
Simultaneously with the start of the major investment project, the former operator of the resort — the "Sport and Health Complex 'Ak Bulak'" LLP — has ceased to exist.
The company managed the resort for 13 years and, until 2019, consistently contributed around 50 million tenge to the budget annually. However, after 2019, its tax payments plummeted to nearly zero: 6 million tenge in 2019, 53 thousand tenge in 2020, and 132 thousand tenge in 2024. In the summer of this year, the legal entity was officially liquidated "at the company's request".
A similar situation is observed with the second operator, registered at the same address — the "Resort hotel 'Tau Ak-Bulak'" LLP. Its tax payments also sharply declined after 2019: from annual amounts of 60–70 million tenge to 253.7 thousand tenge in 2022 and 4200 tenge in 2023. No official reason has been given for the sharp deterioration in the companies' financial performance.