02 Dec, 2021
George Mamulaishvili, head of the administration of the gaming business association, calls Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili's calculations that 1.5 billion GEL "flows" from Georgia to the accounts of foreign companies, incorrect.
In response to the Prime Minister, George Mamulaishvili, in an interview with BMG, explains the results of the activities of foreign companies working in the gaming business in Georgia.
"These amounts are wrong. I can tell you that quite a lot of investments are coming to Georgia from those foreign partners, and investment means that when a person invests money, he must withdraw it. Nowadays, more has come in than - gone abroad. Investment, subsidy and There is no grant to invest money and get nothing for it.
We can see the investment activities of gaming business on the Saxstat website. In 2018, it was more than 70 million GEL in other businesses located in Georgia. In 2019, there were more than 30 million, and in 2020, more than 36 million. Also, in 2020, one of the local companies was fully purchased and a rather large amount was paid and this money remained in the country. I would also like to tell you that the foreign investor who enters the country leaves the local staff, which is quite highly paid. Today, more than 11 thousand people work in gaming business and their average salary is more than 2500 GEL, while the average salary in other businesses is 1500 GEL. So there are a lot of affiliate businesses to consider that work alongside the gaming business and are full time. Our fees do not include companies that supply games to gambling companies. They also pay quite a lot of taxes.
Nowadays, all the supplying companies are registered in Georgia, they are residents of Georgia, they pay quite a lot of tax and it is not less than the tax paid by the operators", said George Mamulaishvili.
For reference: the Prime Minister, while announcing the gambling regulations, said that 1.5 billion GEL is flowing into the account of foreign companies and this is at the expense of the socially vulnerable and pensioners.
As for the expected regulations, for this purpose the government will submit the Sesabam bill to the parliament during the current month. According to the legal framework prepared by the Ministry of Finance to limit gambling, 1 million people will be banned from gambling. Among them are persons under 25 years of age, civil servants and vulnerable citizens.
