MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow authorities have offered alternative employment to gambling industry employees who were made jobless after a new law came into force on July 1, a labor official told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

All gambling establishments in Russia have been ordered to cease operations in accordance with the government's decision to clamp down on the industry. The closures went ahead despite a strong lobby against the Kremlin campaign.

"Everyone who wanted to secure a job was offered a position. Most people in the sphere, except for rare professions like croupiers, were security guards and waiters," said Oleg Netrebsky, the head of Moscow's Labor and Employment Department.

He also said that at a job fair for newly-unemployed gambling industry employees organized by the department in mid-June more than 3,000 out of 4,500 visitors had found new work.

Despite reports that the new law had caused a mass wave of unemployment, the department is aware of only 12,000 people who lost their jobs on July 1, Netrebsky added.

Under a 2007 law, casinos and other gaming establishments are to be relocated to four far-flung designated areas - in the Baltic exclave Kaliningrad, south Siberia's Altai territory, Primorye in the Far East, and in southern Russia. There were about 500 casinos operating in Moscow before the law came into force. Bookmakers and slot-machine arcades have also been hit by the ruling.