The Georgian parliament has passed a law Wednesday imposing restrictions on gambling, including the Increasing the age limit for gambling, prohibition of advertising and higher taxes on the industry.
The package law includes the Imposition of a tax of 10% on gross gaming revenue compared to the current profit tax and a tax of 2% on winnings. The new bill will too Ban gambling for people receiving social benefits and public sector employees from January.
From March, People under 25 are excluded from gambling. The previous law restricted slot machines and online gambling to people over the age of 18 and casinos to people over the age of 21.
The changes too Ban on Georgian bank cards used for gambling services registered outside the country. The law also includes a blanket Gambling advertisements banned from March, including physical, online and broadcast advertisements. An exception applies to sponsor banners at sporting events and on athletes’ clothing.
Any violation of the advertising ban will result in a fine of US $ 3,200which is doubled on repetition. Gaming operators caught allowing someone who is not authorized to use their services face the same fines.
Due to gambling problems, Activists have long advocated restrictions on gambling in Georgia. However, critics question the constitutionality of the new law and warn of unintended consequences. Large TV companies have also claimed that the bill aims to curb substantial advertising revenue.
That’s what lawyers said The widespread advertising of gambling has led Georgians to borrow excessively in hopes of making money quickly and easily and have gotten them into deeper financial troubles.
On Monday, Tamar Japaridze, head of Mothers Against Gambling, but also welcomed the initiative urged lawmakers to use 10% of gambling industry tax revenue to fund gambling addiction treatment. With the recently amended legislation Family members can petition the court to blacklist relatives they believe have gambling addiction.
However, the new law found no support from most opposition groups such as Lelo, Strategy Aghmashenebeli and Girichi – New Political Center.
Lelo admitted that the industry needs more regulations, MPs described the law as hasty and “populist”. During a recent interview, Lelos Saba Buadze talked about Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili‘s approach as “contradicting”, citing a recently released statement in which he pledged to “support” casinos to boost the country’s economy and “tourism potential”. Gharibashvili recently set up a special economic zone in Gonio – a settlement near the capital of Ajaria, Batumi – which is also said to be home to casinos.
The chairman of the Georgian Gambling Association, Giorgi Mamulaishvili, has argued that Georgia risked tricking people into switching to illegal websitesthat would turn Georgia’s market into an unregulated one.
Several opponents of the restrictions, including EuropaBet and the Human rights center, have also argued that Raising the age limit to 25 years would be unconstitutional in view of the freedoms and responsibilities that adults are entitled to.
Critics also pointed to the impact the gambling advertising ban had on media companies. The Media Advocacy Coalition also criticized the speedy discussion of the initiative. It underlined that Accelerated hearings on the draft package prevented proper discussion of its budgetary and media impact, including the latter’s financial independence.
An advertising ban originally planned for January has been postponed to March as a compromise proposal by the ruling party, which rejected other adjustments requested by the media and opposition groups.
Georgian Dream turned down several proposals from Lelo. awayincluding restricting television advertising to the daytime, focusing more on gambling education, and introducing some temporary tax breaks for media groups.
A 2018 study by Alternative Georgia, an advocacy group that deals with addiction, found that 87% of Georgians who gambled at least once a month in the previous year said they sold or borrowed money because of their gambling . Another 2019 report by the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs also found that 13% of 15- to 16-year-olds in Georgia had gambled and 12% of them had problem gambling in the previous year.
