Growing involvement in gambling is concerning

The National Assembly has fully adopted a bill on doubling the state duties for the gambling industry, which will enter into force on April 1.

There is no doubt that the industry needs attention, as evidenced by its rapidly growing pace. In particular, in 2024, the growth compared to last year was 11.6%, the share of services was 7.9%. Compared to last year, casino activity has declined, while online gaming has grown faster.

Another alarming statistic concerns the bets.
The total volume of bets in 2024 exceeded 7 trillion drams. Of course, this figure needs additional filters, but compared to 6.3 trillion drams in 2023, it is obvious that there has been an increase.

As for the actions being taken, can a tax increase contribute to solving the problem, namely, to protect the public from gambling as much as possible? It should be noted that the probability is low because, as a result of the increased tax burden, conditions for users of these services will worsen, while international experience shows that additional income received as a result of the increased tax burden is allocated to social and psychological assistance.
International experience also suggests a set of actions to solve the problem: a state monopoly in this field, the possibility of limiting the playing time or bets, the possibility of limiting participation in gambling to relatives or close people, etc.
Therefore, based on the importance of the problem, the actions should be real.