International licensing and control principles to be introduced in Armenia’s gambling industry

PanARMENIAN.Net - RA Deputy Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan said that the reformation of Armenia's gambling industry proceeds from the principles of Moneyval Committee on combating money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as from the international norms on consumers rights protection adopted in all developed countries of the world.

Presenting a new concept for reforming the gambling industry, Mr. Aramyan told reporters that the Armenian government approved the concept on regulation of gambling industry in RA and implementation of control over it, as well as a program of measures to be taken. The concept aims to continue the gambling industry streamlining in Armenia, taking into consideration the best international experience, as well as to introduce mechanisms for specifying the control and licensing conditions.

According to him, the concept foresees amendments to the current legislation, as well as strengthening of fiscal requirements. Specifically, it is planned to toughen the requirements towards establishers of gaming houses, as well as towards those who deal with organization of games with wins. If this is a physical person, he/she shall have no previous convictions, precedents of bankruptcy or of facilitation of some organization bankruptcy through his/her actions. “During the first stage, it is planned to toughen the licensing and improvement of accountability types with usage of the best international experience that will be done within first two years,” he said.

With respect to this, Mr. Aramyan added that currently the owners of gaming houses submit only quarterly reports concerning their liabilities to the budget, while this sphere licensing of is not on an appropriate level.

The next stage of the concept implementation foresees introduction of electronic document circulation and toughening of technical requirements. The Deputy Minister clarified that the system will allow fixing data of a separate gaming machine or gambler, having a personal ID card. “The obtained data will be maintained by a relevant authorized body, which will have the possibility to follow the work of any machine at any time,” he said.

Mr. Aramyan said that currently there are 11 licensed gaming houses and 103 organizers of games with wins in Armenia, and tax payment at the amount of around AMD 4 billion enter the state budget from the field, while the monthly fixed payment totals AMD4 million per gaming table and 125,000 per gaming machine. According to the concept, starting from 2013 it is foreseen to collect a single state fee at the amount of AMD1.2 billion from gaming houses that will decrease up to AMD 400mln, depending on zones. “The toughening of fiscal and legislative requirements will lead to the enlargement of players in this field that will allow reducing shadow and securing their maximum accountability,” he noted.

As for toughening of restrictions for entering a gaming house, changes will be introduced to limit the availability of the gambling industry for state employees and high-ranking officials. Mr. Aramyan added that certain restrictions will be made related to the organization of advertisement in this field, specifically, there are countries, where the gaming houses advertisement is prohibited in schools and cultural centers, while in other countries it is completely prohibited. As for Armenia, the Deputy Minister said that currently there are not any legislative limitations forbidding a state employee to gamble in casino.