Armenia confirms new fees for online gambling
A new regulator will be created to oversee gambling in Armenia.
Armenia.- The National Assembly has approved increases in the fees levied on online gambling in Armenia. From April 1, duties for licensees will double, and they will continue to rise annually until a new gambling authority is created to regulate the sector.
The bill was authored by Hayk Sargsyan, an MP in the pro-government Civil Contract Party. It had been dismissed but was revived by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last month. The aim is to raise AMD 13bn (€32m) for state funds and to lower incentives for gambling due to concerns about addiction.
The Ministry of Finance had expressed concerns that the changes would push players to unlicensed operators, but Sargsyan argued that turnover in the online casino sector had increased from 14bn drams in 2010 to 6.3 trillion drams (around €15.3bn) in 2023. Meanwhile, taxes and duties paid by the sector had grown from 1bn drams to just 33bn.
A final hearing on March 6 saw some compromises on the bill, including the removal of a proposed 10 per cent turnover tax for online casino gaming and the addition of a requirement for the government to create a new regulatory authority and gaming operator institute.
As an example of the new regime, online casino operators that accept bets of up to AMD 100bn (€233m) and online betting operators accepting bets up to AMD 50bn (€117m) must now pay a fee of AMD 350m or AMD 100m respectively. That’s double the previous duties of AMD 175m and 50m.
“The duties for online casino and bookmaking activities will be doubled with these legislative changes. We will have an annual extra 13 billion drams in state duties,” Sargsyan said.
The fee will rise further by a multiplier of 3 from January 2026, 4 from January 2027 and 5 from January 2028
Last year, the Armenian parliament approved amendments to gambling legislation that changed the tax on customer winnings. Under the amended legislation, the tax on gambling winnings for large wins and regular wins varies.
The former, which are defined as any win of more than 5 million Armenian drams (€11,000), are subject to income tax of 5 per cent rather than the previous 10 per cent. Regular wins of any net win amount (winnings minus the bet placed) of under 5 million drams are now taxed at 10 per cent. The aim was to simplify the taxation process for smaller wins.
