02 Dec, 2021
"The tone and form in which the government interacts with the business is unacceptable," George Mamulaishvili, the head of the gaming business association, told journalists about this.
He introduced the position of the gaming business to the media and noted that the expected regulations are unacceptable for the business.
The fact is that Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili announced the expected regulations for gaming business a few days ago. According to the working version of the draft law prepared by the Ministry of Finance, which is expected to be submitted to the Parliament this month, approximately one million people will be banned from playing, including civil servants, as well as the socially vulnerable. In addition, according to Irakli Gharibashvili, the fees for online casinos should be increased; The age limit is also increased and television advertising, except for sponsorship, is banned.
"The expected regulations are completely unacceptable, due to the fact that specific consultations were not held with the business; the tone and the form in which the government communicates with the business is unacceptable, including through the media. Despite our many attempts to get in touch, there is no initiative from the government to meet with us. This harms not only the image of the country, and not only those companies that operate on the Georgian market, but it is also harmful to those international companies that are represented on the world stock exchanges today," said Mamulaishvili.
He thinks that the gaming business is very well regulated today, and this is evidenced by the fact that many international companies are interested in the Georgian model to take examples. "This is precisely why the form in which these regulations are discussed is unacceptable," says Mamulaishvili.
To the question - what will happen if the government changes the rules of the game for this business and whether the industry will move underground, George Mamulaishvili answers that in this case a large number of citizens will move to the foreign market and play there.
"These are unlicensed sites that are not registered in Georgia. There will be quite a large outflow of funds. Even today, there is an outflow of our citizens abroad, and this sum amounts to 120 million GEL per year, which flows out of the country. It will be impossible to control this due to the existing technologies. Although They say that certain channels will be blocked, including VPN, there are no such examples in the world, even if we take the example of the USA, as well as China, these countries could not do it with their resources, and I doubt whether the Georgian government will be able to do it," said Mamulaishvili.
