Armenian bookmakers against potential shutdown

The Armenian bookmakers are protesting against a bill that would restrict their operations.

Armenia.- Armenian authorities started this year by discussing potential amendments to the local gambling laws. The initiatives included multiple restrictions on bookmaking companies’ operations. Now, those operators are publicly protesting those potential changes.

Bookmakers met outside the Armenian parliament building in Yerevan on Wednesday to protest against the bill that would restrict their operations. They started the protests in order to get a meeting with Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, who came up with the bill in February to limit bookmaking.

The measure to limit bookmakers in Armenia was introduced in February. “These will limit the activities of bookmaking offices in the territory of Armenia, and gambling through the well-known devices at filling stations and different public locations will be banned,” said Simonyan when he introduced the bill.

Bookmakers that protested in the parliament said that closing their offices won’t solve gambling addiction. “By closing the offices it is the number of jobs that are being cut. Just look how much we pay in taxes,” a protesting bookmaker said.

After a few hours of protesting, security personnel told bookmakers that lawmakers were willing to receive them to negotiate. Five of them entered the building for negotiations, but no information has been revealed about that meeting, ArmenPress reported.