Armenian parliament adopts gambling tax amendments

On Friday, the Armenian parliament concluded the second and final readings of the law on state duty. The modifications, which received 60 ‘yes’ votes and six ‘no’ votes, included higher taxes on online casino games, sports betting, and sweepstakes.
 
Earlier this month, the revisions received their first reading, which led to a modification of gambling licences and the implementation of a quota system. These new changes have been scheduled to take effect on July 1 of next year.
 
The development of the law on state duty will have online gambling operators the right to accept wagers of about 100 billion drams (€239.8m) and then pay 175 million drams (€419,800) in duty.
 
In terms of the new sweepstakes effects, the ability to accept wagers of up to 50 million drams (€119.9m) requires operators to pay an additional 5 million drams (€11.9m).
 
These changes will cause an increase in the nation’s annual revenue, bringing in an additional 10 billion drams (€23.9m) from the 2023-24 financial year onwards.
 
The Deputy Minister of Finance, Arman Poghosyan, claimed that the enormous increase in gambling turnover — from 140 billion drams in 2017 to 4.2 trillion drams in the first nine months of this year — made the tax increase unavoidable.

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