How does legislation regulate the gambling business in post-Soviet and European countries? What laws, regulations, norms, and practices proved effective in global practice? These topics were reviewed at the “Gambling Regulation: International Experience and Kazakhstan” conference in Astana. It was the first event of the kind in our country.
The Forum was organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as the official Kazakh regulator of the gambling sphere, the Self-Regulated Gambling Organization of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the 4H Agency consulting company from Europe.
Experts, gambling businessmen, and public governance officials from Kazakhstan and CIS countries discussed the peculiar features of the modern gambling industry, characteristic traits of the European norms and regulations, principles of “responsible gambling”, modern principles of betting and gambling, as well as influence rendered by the gambling industry on economy and business. A standalone discussion was dedicated to the impacts of illegal online platforms on the gambling industry. Forum participants analyzed the experience of interaction between betting and the sports industries in the world.
In the course of the Forum, it was emphasized that due to the well-conceived and strict regulation, developed countries made the gambling industry not only economically effective but, also, socially safe, i.e. not associated with the risks of the generation of unhealthy betting addictions. In the EU, gambling operators pay hundreds of millions of Euros in taxes every year. In the world, bookmakers became major sponsors of sports teams, clubs, and even national teams. Every year, bookmakers appropriate tens of billions of Euros of sponsorships for the development of professional sports.
Galymzhan Duambekov, Head of the Self-Regulated Gambling Organization of Kazakhstan, expressed the opinion that governmental bodies need a new approach to the gambling industry today.
“ Illegal bookmaking offices and Internet casinos do not observe the law and pay taxes. They deceive clients and do not pay their gains. Because of ignorance, many people take illegal sites for professional business. From this standpoint, the conference was useful both for business and the government. Representatives of statehood should find it useful to assess the modern reality of the gambling sphere and study the best global gambling regulation practices. It is high time today to understand, that impacts from the gambling industry on society are associated particularly with illegal gambling operators” – he said.
Vice-Minister of Culture and Sports Yerzhan Yerkinbayev said that bookmaking and other types of gambling businesses are rapidly developing in Kazakhstan – “That is why, today, it is important to discuss key bookmaking aspects, as well as nuances of gambling and specific characteristics of legal practices, for further improvement of the national legislation”. Besides, the Vice-Minister mentioned the topicality and importance of integrity and compliance in the sphere of the gambling business, confrontation to money-laundry and legalization of profits by illegal business structures, proper taxation, and protection of the rights and interests of the citizens of Kazakhstan.
Forum participants made a conclusion that sustained and socially safe development of the gambling industry requires the adoption of laws about responsible gambling, thorough regulation of legal business, and shutting down of all legal loopholes that illegal operators may avail themselves of. It was highlighted that Kazakhstan needed studies and the introduction of the best global legal cases in the discussed sphere.
In addition to the business community, CIS state regulators and experts, top officials from the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Internal Affairs and Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the Agency of Financial Monitoring, Agency of Regulation and Development of Financial Market, Department of Entrepreneurial Activity and Tourism of Akmola Region and Tourism Directorate of the Almaty Region took part in the event.
