Parliament OKs gambling tax hike

The Armenian parliament on Thursday adopted at second reading the bill on increasing the state duties in the gambling industry. 

The bill was authored by Civil Contract MP Hayk Sargsyan.

The initial version included an extra 10% turnover tax but it was removed prior to the second reading. 

The legislation passed with 58 votes in favor, 2 against and 17 abstentions.

The state duties, which will be doubled starting April 1, will continue to increase annually until a national monitoring center is launched. 

“The duties for online casino and bookmaking activities will be doubled with these legislative changes. We will have an annual extra 13 billion drams in state duties,” Sargsyan said.

The taxes will increase until the national operator, an oversight body in the gambling industry, will be created. 

The Civil Contract party legislators have been trying to tackle the gambling addiction issue for many years through various legislative initiatives.

Earlier in January, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed concern over the statistics.