Restrictions Imposed on Who Can Participate in Gaming, Both Online and Live - Badasyan

The government has discussed a package of legislative proposals concerning the regulation of gaming activities, presented by Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Rustam Badasyan.

"We can highlight two main objectives: first, ensuring transparency, meaning that the oversight of companies engaged in gaming activities will be conducted online; second, the implementation of responsible gaming rules," said Badasyan.

Regarding responsible gaming measures, the Chairman of the State Revenue Committee mentioned that several restrictions are being imposed. "We are introducing several restrictions on who cannot participate in gambling activities, pertaining to both online and live games. Individuals under the age of 21 are prohibited from participating, as well as those benefiting from subsidy programs funded or co-funded by the budget, and beneficiaries of the family social assessment system and the poverty-based program are also excluded," Badasyan elaborated.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raised a question: "We say that if a citizen is included in the poverty benefit system, they cannot place bets; how do we monitor this?" In response, the official stated that this will be conducted through a unified electronic management system.

Badasyan also addressed the certification of gaming products for entities engaged in the organization of gambling. "Entities operating in the field of organizing gambling must have their gaming products certified by internationally recognized laboratories. The fact of certification will be verified by the operator designated by the government, and all gaming products must be connected to the monitoring center, meaning that the monitoring center will receive real-time information about the placed bets, the revenue generated, and other related matters," clarified Rustam Badasyan.