The Republic of Armenia is on the verge of adopting recommendations by the Minister of Finance to strictly limit gaming advertisements. The ministry is the gaming sector’s licensing authority.
Minister Armen Hayrapetyan proposed rules that would mirror those adopted by Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Georgia. The parliament voted 56-8 in favor of the proposal.
Under the bill, advertisements would be banned on TV, online, radio and press. They would be allowed in four-star hotels, border checkpoints and “in the front of buildings carrying out the similar business activities.”
Hayrapetyan told fellow MPs “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… our index is six times higher.”
The Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, while supporting the reforms, reported that national advertising and media networks get as much as 70 percent of income from online gaming and lottery ads.
