Georgia to introduce new online casino restrictions 

Only the country’s land-based casinos will be allowed to offer igaming.

Georgia.- Irakli Garibashvili, prime minister of Georgia, has approved another batch of restrictions to tighten the country’s gambling laws. One of the measures will be to ring-fence online casino licences so they can be held only by land-based casinos based in Georgia.

That would make Adjara Group, Crystalbet and Iveria the only operators that can hold online casino licences. However, in addition, the government plans to offer a licence for exclusive rights to operate online casino for a fee of ₾5m (€1.6m).

Last year, the government presented plans to introduce separate gaming licences for specific verticals, so that operators would no longer be able to expand into different verticals with no need for an additional permit. The annual permit fees for each of the business types (online casino, slots and betting) were to be set at ₾100,000 (€35,580). 

Garibashvili said new rules were needed to tackle gambling addiction and also the heavy use of unlicensed gambling sites from abroad, of which he says there are around 700 targeting Georgian players. He’s implemented several changes in the last two years to tighten the rules, including an executive order raising the minimum age for gambling from 18 to 25 and legislation to introduce new taxes: 10 per cent on gross gaming revenues, alongside a 2 per cent on player winnings.  

The prime minister also pushed forward restrictions on who can enter gaming venues, banning civil servants and those receiving government assistance. Operators have protested against some of the changes, saying they limit companies’ chances of attracting foreign investment. The rise in the legal age to gamble has been particularly criticised, with operators arguing that the executive order was unlawful.

Last February, Flutter Entertainment’s PokerStars announced that it was pulling out of Georgia. It didn’t say why, but the move came as the Georgian government prepared to introduce new gambling legislation restricting business.