Gambling venues may be prohibited in the Romanian capital while Armenia may limit online gambling adverts: news digest

What does the Belarusian Decree No 305 ‘On improving the legal regulation of gambling business’ lay down? Why does the Federal Tax Service of Russia need access to the gambling sphere? Why may gambling venues be banned in Romania? Read on our weekly news digest.

Online gambling ads may be cut in Armenia

The Armenian government has brought amendments to the laws ‘On advertising’ and ‘On prize games, online prize games, and casino’.

“The amendments limit prize games advertising via TV, radio, and the Internet in terms of a time period and programs where they are banned from broadcasting,”explained Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan during the meeting.

In particular, prize games advertising is prohibited on children’s, youth’s, educational, medical, and social websites. In case of law violation, an administrative fine calculated at thousand minimum wages will be charged.

Federal Tax Service of Russia may obtain
access to gambling in a bid to fight fraudsters

The Federal Tax Service of Russia (FNS) may obtain the right to take part in lotteries and gambling to search for fraudsters. This has been stipulated in the bill ‘On amendments to the Federal Law ’On lotteries’ and the Federal Law ‘On the state regulation оf the activities involving the organization of and carrying out of gambling and on introduction of amendments to certain legislative instruments of the Russian Federation’’ published on the website of the State Duma.

To search for information that violates the ban on lotteries and gambling organization via the Internet, inspections would be carried out. Once fraudsters are caught, they will be added to the automated Unified Register of websites with the content prohibited in Russia.

Decree on online casino legalization
comes into force in Belarus

As stipulated by the decree No 305 ‘On improving the legal regulation of gambling business’ issued by the President of the Republic of Belarus of August 7, 2018, gambling organization and carrying out via the Internet is allowed across the country starting from April 1, 2019. The document lays down the peculiarities of online casino licensing and taxation.

• according to the decree, online gambling organizers are to provide a security deposit on a special account: it has to ensure a payout in case of financial inability of the iGaming operator;
• besides, organizers of a virtual establishment have to provide remote access to the Tax and Duties Ministry of the Republic of Belarus and its territorial administration, the Gambling Business Monitoring Center as well as connect to the Specialized Computer Cash System (SCCS).

Gambling venues may be prohibited in the Romanian capital

Romanian politician Catalin Lucian Iliescu has put forward an initiative to move all gambling venues to the vicinity of Bucharest where the gambling center is located.

According to the preliminary information, Bucharest now has about 1200 gambling parlors. Iliescu believes that any of these that operate on the ground floor of apartment buildings should be relocated to the outskirts. This also touches upon gambling facilities located within 200 meters of churches, schools or other public institutions.

The politician reckons that relocating the facilities will help mitigate the risks of citizens’ gambling addiction.

Entertainment resort zone Primorye may
refuse to co-operate with Taiwanese investors

Russian major gambling zone Primorye may refuse to co-operate with Taiwanese investors in favor of gambling and tourism operator Suncity Group.

On April 2, Summit Ascent Holdings that owns 60% of Tigre de Cristal’s shares has announced that another firm would soon buy its securities.

A potential shareholder remains unknown. However, all signs point to Suncity Group Holdings Ltd, a company owning 3.29% of shares as of November. The percentage went up in February.