Armenian gambling tax hike proposal passes first reading

Armenia’s parliament has passed the first reading of amendments to state duty.

Armenia.- The Armenian parliament has passed the first reading of state duty amendments that would see duty increased for betting, sweepstakes and online gaming. The amendments call for licence conditions to be revised with the introduction of a quota system.

A company offering online gambling with winnings would have to buy the right to accept bets worth 100bn drams (€239.8m) and pay 175m drams (€419,800) in duty. The system for sweepstakes would be different. For the right to accept bets of up to 50m drams, operators would have to pay an additional 5m drams.

The law is expected to come into force from July 1 next year and the proposed changes are expected to generate extra revenue of 10bn drams a year for the state from 2024. Deputy minister of finance Arman Poghosyan said the change was necessary because the sector’s turnover has grown dramatically from 140bn drams in 2017 to 4.2trn drams in the first nine months of this year.

In May, the Armenian parliament approved a bill banning the use of cash for gambling. The legislation prohibits the use of cash for betting and gaming, extending that to cover the use of electronic cash and payment terminals. Gambling payments are only permitted using card. Winnings must also be paid out electronically via bank transfer.