25 Apr, 2022
Income of gaming business decreased by 18%. George Mamulaishvili, the head of the administration of Georgian Gambling Association, told about this.
According to him, the amount of taxes included in the budget by companies in the first quarter of this year has also been reduced, the exact amount of which the association will make public in the near future.
"There is an 18% decrease in revenue, but this does not mean that people have stopped playing. Any user can freely register on foreign sites, undergo verification through a short message and place a bet. We got this as a result of the meaningless law, which first came into effect on January 1st, and in full - on March. These companies are not under the jurisdiction of Georgia, because the state cannot control them. It is very easy to register on these sites and make bank card transfers. Therefore, we got what I predicted, that money will flow abroad and no one will pay taxes in Georgia from this amount. There is complete lack of control, people of all ages can play," says Mamulaishvili.
In addition, according to the representative of the association, the only answer in the Ministry of Finance is that "measures will be taken", however, so far, the result is not visible.
"The charm of Georgian operators was simplicity for users. In particular, the user easily performed operations with the Georgian operator. login to the site; Enrollment and other procedures were convenient for him, while with a foreign operator, the company took more time. For example, if you do these procedures in one second with a Georgian operator, you may have to wait 20-30 minutes with a foreigner; When you limit access, the user gets used to the 30-minute waiting period, especially when foreign companies have quite large bonuses. The reason is that illegal operators do not pay tax at all. Now the user will do this with a foreign operator, which means that the money will go abroad and there will be no control mechanism at all", says Mamulaishvili.
Amendments to the Law "On the Organization of Lotteries, Gambling and Profitable Games" came into force on March 1, according to which citizens under 25 years of age, socially vulnerable persons receiving state benefits, civil servants, and persons applying to the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance to use the self-limitation mechanism were prohibited from participating in gambling. on request and also to those who fall under the so-called On the "black list" based on a court decision or at the request of family members. Before [from January 1], the tax pressure on gaming business increased to 70%.
