Georgia reconsiders online ban

Georgian parliamentarians were urging the government to ban online gambling in the country but it seems that’s not going to happen.

Georgia.- Online gambling has been received differently by each country as some have regulated the activity long ago whilst others have opted for making it illegal until they come up with their own legislation for the segment. The Republic of Georgia seemed to be on trail to take the prohibition path but has turned around and will set new regulations instead.

As parliamentarians were pushing for the ban, the Ministry of Finance rejected the possibility for being impossible to enforce. Instead, the government will set up new requirements for gamblers to make sure there are no underage users, like having to register with the country’s tax service to access iGaming services.

The decision of backing away from an online ban seems to be related to the government wanting to get its own share of gambling revenue from taxation (potentially worth US$80.6 million). Georgia set up new tax rules starting last January 1 and collected US$58.4 million, 33 per cent more than all the gambling tax take in 2016.

Therefore, it seems that a prohibition on online gambling activity would not only be extremely costly regarding its enforcement, but would also have the goverment missing out on a great amount of money from taxes. Nonetheless, it seems that banning is no longer on the table as Georgia is willing to take advantage of the thriving online gambling segment.