YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Protesting bookmakers outside the parliament building in Yerevan have opened the adjacent Baghramyan Avenue which they had blocked earlier.

However, they are not leaving the area until they find out the outcome of negotiations which is proceeding inside the building between their representatives and a senior lawmaker.

The author of the bill is Vice Speaker Alen Simonyan. The bill provisions banning bookmaking offices in the country, with only a few exceptions. Initially, they discussed the possibility of each bookmaking organization only having a single office in each provincial capital, and a single office in each district in Yerevan, but then the discussion focused on the possibility of having a single office in each electoral district.  Under the proposal, these offices will be gradually closed after one year, and in two years time all bookmaking offices will be shut down.

The demonstrators argue that by closing bookmaking offices the gambling addiction problem won’t be solved.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan