Georgia’s prime minister is increasing gambling taxes because of the country’s high participation rates. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Increased turnover

Georgia’s prime minister is increasing taxes on the country’s gambling sector because of “catastrophic” participation levels.

Georgia’s gambling sector had a turnover of $19.2bn in 2022

Despite imposing a ban on gambling advertising, Irakli Gharibashvili said during a budget speech that he was surprised at the increase in the number of people gambling. As a result of higher participation levels, Georgia’s gambling sector had a turnover of $19.2bn in 2022.

In response, the government is increasing the tax rate levied on gambling companies from 10% to 15%. Gharibashvili has also instructed the government to adopt a tax increase on customer withdrawals from 2% to 5%.

Gharibashvili said these amendments would generate a further GEL400m ($148m) per year. The government had previously increased the gaming age to 25, restricting 1.5 million citizens from gambling.

Yet, Gharibashvili has expressed his sadness that so many still participate in the activity.

“It is very sad that the turnover of the gaming business is increasing,” he said. “I am really not happy, too many citizens are still involved in the gaming business.”

A shake-up of the country’s laws

In February, Georgia took steps to shake up its gambling laws when the country’s prime minister signed off on several reforms. These included rules limiting online casinos to land-based companies.

The introduction of the reforms is the biggest change to Georgia’s gambling laws since 2021. Due to Georgia becoming a hub for land-based gambling, in 2021 Georgia changed its regulatory regime to make gambling safer.

raised taxes on gambling businesses to 70%

As a result, it raised the minimum gambling age to 25 and raised taxes on gambling businesses to 70%. The government also banned gambling advertising on TV. On top of that, Georgia has a gambling license fee, amounting to $1.7m each year from each licensed holder, which includes some of Georgia’s biggest land-based casinos such as Adjara Group, Crystalbet, and Iveria.