According to a statement from the football club Locomotive, due to the general decision of the Association of Gaming Businesses, gaming businesses will stop sponsoring the sport, due to the new regulations, they will be forced to abandon the model they have been leading in recent years. According to them, it became impossible to access the existing financial sources, which caused the created situation.

"Also, regardless of the agreement reached with the sponsor, the financing of the club depends on the general decision of the gaming business association, which is related to their integration into Georgian sports from the sponsoring point of view. These conditions make it difficult to take responsibility for the players and the staff working in the club," Locomotive's statement reads.

The main purpose of the sponsorship campaigns of the gambling business operators was primarily to promote the social responsibility taken by the operators and to raise the image of the gaming business companies. Almost all sports, sports teams and athletes were financed with the huge amount of money allocated in this direction. Gambling companies sponsor both novice and successful athletes. This helped to present Georgia in the best way on the world stage.

The new regulations put the companies operating in the game business sector under severe pressure. The regulations adopted in an accelerated manner automatically led to the need to optimize costs and made it impossible to further invest in the development of Georgian sports. Unfortunately, under the conditions of legal restrictions, the gaming business sector had to refuse to sponsor sports, which had a negative impact on the development of the sport itself and will continue to do so in the future. Also, the industry will have to reduce or abandon sports broadcasts.

Locomotive is the first club that tasted the bitterness of the regulations set for the online gambling business - Crocobet was the general sponsor of the club, and by 2022, the residents of Tbilisi were also planning a long-term cooperation with a new gambling partner. In addition to explaining this issue, the former coach of the team calls the decision of the club's leadership correct, implying that Lexo Tofuria and Giorgi Kifiani did not make illusory promises to the team members and directly introduced the reality.

"Our club is financially dependent on several people and several companies. There was a government program, there is a president who has been helping the team for years, and there is also a gambling side. Apart from the president, both funding sides are still unclear. These channels are closed and the club depends only on the president.

I cannot say that the decision of the club is wrong. Lexo (Lexo Topuria - club president) cannot say one thing and do another. If something is corrected in the future, the situation in the club may also change. This team had a future and I saw it differently."

A month ago, adjarasport.com talked to Giorgi Kifiani about the playing regulations, who also mentioned that the capital team was waiting from the financial point of view, both from the state and from the private sector. The latter was then still hampered by potential regulations, which were finally passed by Parliament and put pressure on the gaming business, to which the Gambling Association responded by refraining from investing in sports. As you can see, the first victim of this step of the state is Tbilisi Lokomotiv, the team that beat Dynamo Moscow a year and a half ago and gave the whole of Georgia an unforgettable evening.