On Thursday, the Armenian parliament discussed in the first reading the package of amendments to the Law on Advertising, which will ban the advertising of casinos and winning games on mass media, TV, and radio and will be allowed only in hotels with 4 or more stars and on the front of gaming offices and stores.
As Deputy Minister of Finance Armen Hayrapetyan reported, in June of 2019, the law introduced restrictions on online gambling advertising, and advertising was allowed only on the Internet, radio, and television, but since then, the State Revenue Committee and the ministry have conducted a study to find out if there are new risks for the public. “We found out that compared to 2018, bets increased six times at the end of 2020. The average number of bets has tripled. Compared to international trends, we have realized that our field is developing very fast and the risk of gambling is increasing. In the UK, for example, one in six players becomes a gambler. It turns out that the index is six times higher,” said Hayrapetyan.
According to him, this is the reason why the restrictions are being reinstated. “We will return to the existing regulations until 2019 and offer to limit the advertising of games with internet winnings, leaving only hotels with 4 or more stars, border checkpoints, and their places of activity. This way, we will try to alleviate the situation and reduce the risks of gambling. And the catalysts that make bets on events will also be limited.”
Armen Hayrapetyan noted that there are reactions that the restrictions will have a negative impact on the media, which claimed that 70% of advertising orders are made from the gambling business. “We think that if the dependence on the gambling business is very big, it will be difficult to return to a free independent press. According to statistics, the mentioned number is 20-25%. However, there is a growth of five percent. We are ready to formulate the law in such a way that no problems are created for the media.
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Luiza Sukiasyan
