A member of the Armenian Parliament has proposed a new 10% turnover tax on online gambling as part of a reform to the country’s tax code.
The draft law, introduced by Hayk Sargsyan, an MP from the Civil Contract party, would be added on top of existing gambling taxes and levies and aims to restrict the growth of the gambling industry.
The Standing Committee on Economic Affairs supported the proposal in a vote following a meeting on February 5.
Sargsyan highlighted the rapid growth of the sector in recent years, noting that betting volume has increased by 440 times from 2010 to 2023. However, the total taxes and duties collected during this period have only increased 26 times.
He added: “The aim of the draft law is, if the volumes do not change, to provide about AMD 100bn ($240 m) more annual income to the state budget.”
The proposed tax hike has faced opposition from the Ministry of Finance.
Sargsyan noted that despite the objections of the Deputy Minister of Finance, the government’s Committee of Ministers approved the proposed tax increase.
The Deputy Minister emphasized that the ministry currently considers it inappropriate to increase taxes on casinos, gambling, online gambling, lotteries, totalisers, and Internet totaliser organizations.
A parliamentary report on the meeting stated: “According to the key rapporteur, a number of legislative amendments have been made over the past five years, which were aimed at restricting the gambling sector and increasing the tax burden.
“However, according to him, as the analysis of statistics shows, the steps taken are not sufficient, and it is necessary to increase the tax burden again.”
Other MPs pointed out the need for more data, monitoring, and the introduction of new tools and regulations.
The Deputy Chair of the Committee, Babken Tunyan, proposed postponing the bill for two months for further discussions and input from the government.
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