The Ministry of Finance of Georgia will present a new model of taxation of online gambling in a week. This was announced by Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili.
"This model will comply with the principles of common sense. A single age limit will also be introduced, and advertising will be prohibited. These are the frameworks that have been tested in many countries," Khutsishvili said.
In addition, according to the Minister, an entirely new model will be offered to online casinos in all areas of taxation - both in terms of winnings and bets.
We are talking about the introduction of a new taxation mechanism under the Gross gaming revenue (GGR) system — this is the difference between the bets received and the winnings paid.
"It is important that the tax burden on this taxation model will be quite high, so this should reduce the interest for businesses in this sector," Khutsishvili explained.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili took the initiative to tighten the rules of online casinos in Georgia. According to him, 1.5 billion lari lost in online casinos flows out of Georgia every year.
According to the plan he announced, taxes for this type of gambling establishments will be increased at the first stage, their advertising is banned everywhere, the age barrier for players is set from 25 years old. And at the second stage, the Georgian government plans to completely ban online casinos.
Gambling is one of the most profitable industries in Georgia. There are many luxury casinos in Tbilisi and Batumi, including five-star hotels, which attract rich foreign tourists to Georgia from countries where gambling is prohibited.
However, the problem is not this, but dozens of online casinos and hundreds of sweepstakes operating in the country, as well as thousands of gambling machines that are designed not for tourists, but exclusively for residents with an income at the level of average and below average.
Profile NGOs believe that ludomania, the so-called gambling addiction, affects about 700 thousand people in Georgia, that is, every fifth resident of the country.
In Georgia, since 2005, the law "On lotteries and the device of gambling and winning games" has been in force, which regulates the operation of casinos, sweepstakes, slot clubs.
The law prohibits even people under the age of 21 from entering the casino, and those under the age of 18 are prohibited from playing slot machines.
According to the rules, minors are not registered in online casinos either. However, teenagers usually circumvent this rule by using another person's personal document number.
Often, because of large losses, young people decide to take an extreme step and commit suicide – then another wave rises in society with a demand to ban gambling - if not everywhere, then at least for local residents.

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