19 Dec, 2021
On December 14, the Parliament of Georgia supported the changes in the legislative body of Georgia in order to regulate the online gaming business.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili announced this initiative a few weeks ago at the meeting of the Government of Georgia and instructed the Minister of Finance to prepare a legislative initiative.
In response to the decision of the Parliament of Georgia, the Georgian Gambling Association issued a statement stating that gambling companies will have to cancel their sponsorship packages for Georgian sports, which means that from the day the law comes into force, Georgian clubs, federations, associations and athletes will no longer receive money from gambling organizations.
The Georgian Football Federation has its own position on the mentioned issue, whose general secretary Davit Mujir spoke at length about "Sport Imedi" on the Imedi TV program.
"The existing policy in the country, what it will be in this direction is very important and the regulations that exist today. Now there is a project to tighten the regulations. Until now there were regulations with which we sometimes had some restrictions with our partner Crystalbet. It is very important that these regulations are And to exist, because it is the prevention of avoiding too many important factors.Therefore, it is very important that we make these regulations the requirements that are in the sport.
There are regulations that minimize sponsorship and staying in the sport. Since the tightening of these regulations was announced, we have been actively involved, as there are many examples of this, even in leading European countries. There is a breakdown, according to which, for example, at the Premier League level, the Premier League has the most contracts with betting companies. It ranks first in the number of agreements. Football and the Premier League are the most watched and gambling companies are also investing in this area to increase awareness and competition. Therefore, football and sports become stronger.
However, I repeat once again, the recommendations that exist in the country should be taken into account. We are talking about sports, you are a television station and you have a calculated budget, you have a sponsor Crystalbet - you have everything calculated, but the main and most important part is to adapt to the regulations in the country. This may lead to a reduction or withdrawal of investment and gambling support. If you are a company, your income may be reduced due to some restrictions, therefore your marketing budget may change, it may drop to zero.
We would like the recommendations to be such that our partners have the desire to stay in the sport and the physical and financial ability to do so. We were very actively involved in this process, we worked, we also presented our opinion on what all this could lead to, even for sports.
For example, I will tell you that until 2017, when we created the brand and the National League was created, we made sure that every game was covered, it was the demand and need of the audience, and at the same time it was very important for the development and promotion of the league, and we invested money in this. Perhaps we are the only one of the federations of 55 countries (the number of UEFA member associations) who completely cover the total costs of producing reports. Today, there is such a situation that no television has the financial resources for this, therefore, we, because the demand of the fans was a priority, the federation took it upon us. Then we created this brand, logo and interesting product for partners. It was the first time that the league changed its name. For the fourth year, we have a partner Crystalbet National League, and attracting investments from these partners led to the fact that every year we reduced the funding received from the state, and in 2021 we reached the point where we reduced it to 7 million zero and became a sports organization that, on the contrary, pays money in the budget.
I don't want to think about the bad and that's why I say it's very important to keep the partnership. At all stages, until now, we have taken care to increase this partnership, to increase the volume, and we have negotiated the sale of the name of the women's league, as well as the sale of the name of the futsal league, not only with gambling companies. We do not have partners only from gambling - for example, we politically decided internally that we do not touch the national team from the point of view of gambling, because it is a sensitive topic. These restrictions are also a little problematic for the national team, because the team has additional restrictions. The national league is our product, we gave it a name, and it [the team] has international obstacles. For example, in Ukraine, they have two teams in the Champions League, they play in the World and European championships, they are world champions under the age of 20, and they have greater financial income and stronger interest from their partners. VBET became the sponsor of their national team. Because where they have the biggest financial resources, they have the biggest interest in football. Therefore, the Football Federation of Ukraine made the most profitable offer to VBET, despite the restrictions and obstacles that come with it.
It is very important that these regulations prevent the problems that the country may face... State interests are a priority for us, of course it should be. We are one organization, football is one of the segments, interesting for fans that can bring joy, sports as a whole is a healthy way of life and of course it is a priority for the state. We have to adjust some regulations, what exists, and we would like the regulations to be such that our partners do not have to leave this field either partially or completely," said David Mujir, Secretary General of the SFF.
The draft law on the introduction of new regulations for the gaming business was submitted to the Parliament on December 13 and the next day, the deputies approved it in the first reading. The mentioned regulations envisage a significant (up to 70%) increase in the tax burden for gaming businesses, a complete ban on advertising (except for sponsorship) and an increase in the minimum age limit for players to 25 years.
