The end of 2021 was marked by significant changes in the Georgian gaming business. On December 22, a new draft law was passed at an extraordinary session of the Parliament, which restricts some aspects of gambling in the country. Legislative initiatives have resonated not only in the gambling industry, but also in sports, mass media and other sectors of the economy.

Full legalization of gambling around the world is the policy of developed countries. Legalization of the field has several important functions. One of the main ones is economic, because the gambling industry stimulates the development of related sectors of the economy.

In this regard, Georgia is no exception, where the growth of the gambling market was accompanied by the growth of business activity in many industries. However, as a result of the changes provided by the new draft law, many sectors will be affected;

Here is a list of some of them:

Media -  Media will see a sharp decline in revenue as the gambling sector is a significant source of advertising revenue. Consequently, they will lose their ranking, their advertising revenue will decrease even more, and they may be in danger of being closed.

Marketing, advertising and PR - in 2021 alone, the advertising market in general and in some categories in particular showed a double-digit growth, although the aforementioned prohibitions directly affect marketing and PR companies and their revenues.

Sponsorship contracts - multi-million dollar contracts for support of national federations, teams, individual athletes were unfortunately canceled. The regulations will put the companies working in the gaming business sector under severe pressure, which will automatically lead to the need to optimize costs and make it impossible to invest in the development of Georgian sports. Sponsorship advertising activity allowed by the draft law does not represent a marketing or financially justified expense for the companies, accordingly gambling business operators refused the sponsorship contracts.

Consulting - is paid qualified assistance for gambling organizations in independent evaluation of current activities, analysis of business processes and provision of recommendations to improve business performance and its efficiency.

Legal services - services of a legal nature, including preparation and examination of documents, communication with regulatory bodies, legal protection of interests in case of disputes.

Recruitment - finding and adapting personnel to work in the company.

IT, software production and technical services - new regulations will lead to a decrease in the demand for software, therefore, qualified personnel may remain unemployed and the unemployment rate in the country will increase. (According to the latest data of Saxstat, the unemployment rate is more than 22.5%)

Event marketing is the holding of large-scale events related to the brands of gaming companies. The financing of the mentioned events will most probably be stopped

Charity -. Many gaming companies are active donors to charitable foundations for various causes that operate at the state and local levels. Unfortunately, some projects will be canceled in this direction as well.

The mentioned list does not take into account the direct revenue from license fees in the state budget, which will also be drastically reduced, and the state will have to find reduced funds in other ways, including increasing certain taxes for the population.

Thus, the combined growth in various business sectors, which was noticeable last year, will unfortunately not continue in 2022 due to new, unjustified regulations.

In total, more than 12,000 people are employed in the gambling sector, and the reduction in the first stage of the law's implementation will affect more than 25% of employees. This is harmful not only for the country's budget, but also for the country's economy, because the level of unemployment in the country will increase sharply.