Possible Closure of Gaming Sector Companies, Says MP

Member of Parliament Hayk Sargsyan from the Civil Contract faction has proposed increasing the tax burden on the organization of internet gambling, lotteries, totalizators, and internet totalizators by imposing a 10% turnover tax. He presented his initiative during a meeting of the standing committee on economic issues, not ruling out the possibility of closing gaming sector companies altogether.

According to the MP, the volume of bets placed in the organization of gambling, internet gambling, lotteries, totalizators, and internet totalizators was around 14 billion drams in 2010, but by 2023, this amount has increased more than 440 times, reaching 6.3 trillion drams. This is while the taxes collected have only increased 26 times.

Sargsyan also noted that in 2010, from the 14 billion dram turnover in this sector, 1 billion was collected as tax, whereas in 2023, from a turnover of 6.3 trillion drams, only 33 billion drams were collected as tax. The operators of umbrella advertising for gambling have been fined 750 million drams.

He did not deny that during this time, the Armenian authorities have taken steps to restrict the sector, but these measures have not yielded adequate results, and it is necessary to raise the tax burden again. “Perhaps we should also discuss and eventually go down the path of closing the companies, an approach that exists in the world,” the MP emphasized.

According to him, banning gambling activities would lead to citizens redirecting the money spent in this area to the development of other sectors of the economy. The MP believes that as a result, both citizens addicted to gambling and their family members, as well as other sectors of the economy, would benefit as greater sums of money would be invested.