VIDEO: Disagreement Among 'My Step' Faction MPs on Lottery Advertising Bill

Disagreement among members of the 'My Step' faction in the National Assembly Economic Affairs Committee.

The committee discussed bills proposing amendments and changes to the Law on Advertising as well as to the laws on Gambling Games, Internet Gambling, and Casinos, which aim to restrict lottery advertisements in media outlets. This was reported by "My Step" faction MP Hayk Sargsyan, who expressed opposition to the proliferation of lottery activities. He also noted that advertising in local media is banned by law during specific hours, yet is allowed on social media. Meanwhile, he pointed out that they are proposing to ban advertising during specific hours, but it can still be aired during sports events.

He elaborated on the potential harm of the law's implementation and mentioned that betting companies pay the community about 70 million AMD annually for billboard advertising.

"And that is the office that advertises the least. If we multiply that figure by four, we find that we are causing community budgets about 300 million in losses, and this is provided that billboards are not the most targeted; no one actually looks at them," he stated, adding that with this law, they are allowing for losses of up to half a billion AMD while giving the same advertisement an opportunity to be promoted on social media.

The bill's author, Hrachya Hakobyan, added that the Government has given a positive assessment regarding the damages concerning billboards. "When you say that no one looks at billboards, in reality, if advertised on television, a person can change the channel to shield the child from that advertisement, or turn off the radio, or similarly with a website, but they cannot prevent the child from spending their buffet money on it when the advertisement is carried out with a large billboard," he elaborated.

Before the bill went to a vote, the committee chairman Babken Tunyan suggested postponing the vote on this issue as was done with the project concerning lotteries by Alen Simonyan and to further discuss it thoroughly in the committee. The proposal was accepted, and the discussion was postponed until the April 26 session.