Newly appointed Israeli Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch has said that he is in favour of opening legal casinos in the countries and will actively promote the idea.
The retired police general said that legal casinos "could boost tourism, provide employment and help the local economy."
"If we take everything into account we can find the way to run a casino without bringing about negative affects," he said.
"We all know how many Israelis went to gamble in the casinos in Jericho and the off-shore casinos in Eilat. For years, scores of Israelis have been going abroad to gamble. We are better off keeping all that gambling money at home, in Israel."
Aharonovitch has also suggested that Israeli authorities should simplify the difficult process for Russian tourists to receive a visa to visit Israel.
"Israel has only 80,000 Russian tourists a year, while our neighbouring countries have millions," he said.
