Georgia looks at gambling advertising ban
Minimum gambling age may be raised to 25 under draft law being debated
Georgia’s parliament is preparing to implement laws that will severely limit the advertising of gambling in all forms of media.
Under the new rules being debated by the country’s parliament, all advertising through TV, radio and online will be banned with any operators found violating the law fined 10,000 GEL (£2,956). Repeated violators of these regulations will be fined at double this amount.
Gambling operators will still be able to continue sponsorship deals, however, they will be limited to displaying their logos only. No further advertising will be permitted.
In addition, all Georgian banks will be barred from accepting transactions or acting as payment services to any foreign gambling sites. The minimum age for gambling will be raised from 21 to 25 as a way of reducing the number of problem gamblers in their early 20s.
Levan Gogichaishvili, one of the bill’s sponsors told the IPN news agency: “Restrictions will be placed on gambling business ads. We are considering imposition of regulations similar to tobacco and alcohol – ban on circulation of ads till 12 pm. Some companies may find it difficult from the financial point of view, but public interest is more important than the private interests of certain individuals.
“We think that people aged between 18 and 24 are the most prone to gambling, and that is why we intend to raise the minimum age for gambling to 25.”
A list of groups not allowed to participate in gambling is also being considered which would include public service personnel and vulnerable individuals.
Government estimates state that as many as 600,000 people could be addicted to gambling, which represents 15% of the total population of Georgia. Gambling is one of the biggest industries in Georgia, generating turnover of almost 5.7bn GEL (£1.86bn), more than the retail industry and tourism industry combined.
The draft law was proposed by representatives from the ruling Georgia Dream party including Gogichaishvili, Irakli Beraia, Irakli Abuseridze, Goga Gulordava, Bidzina Gegidze, and Tsotne Zurebiani.
The Georgian ministry of finances revenue service has also opened up a tender process to run oversee all gambling in Georgia, inviting external companies to submit bids.
In the tender document, the ministry states that “the Revenue Service has no mechanism to establish and carry out a full control over the payment of taxes and the fulfillment of the gambling license conditions because it does not have the required information.”
The winning tender will be announced on 1 December.