What do you need to know about gambling in Georgia?
What do you need to know about gambling in Georgia?
Gambling business in Georgia is becoming a fast developing sector in this jurisdiction, due to the favourable legislative policies set out by relevant authorities attracting foreign capital/investment to the nation. According to the gambling legislation in Georgia with regards to the organization of online casinos, it is necessary to have a real economic substance of the gambling business.
Furthermore, to properly set up the business - lotteries, casinos and other gambling-related activities, the following steps will be required. They include:
- Company registration in the form of a Limited Liability Company (LLC);
- Opening a corporate bank account;
- Opening a personal bank account (optional);
- Applying to the Ministry of Finance for permission to open/establish a casino.
Note that to open either a physical or online casino, a permission/approval must be received from the Ministry of Finance in Georgia.
Gambling License Permit in Georgia
Costs and Documents
The applicant is free to choose the term when the licence-permit will be issued. The duration of this term affects the price. Thus:
- Term of 1 working day - 2000 Georgian Lari (GEL);
- Term of 5 working days - 800 Georgian Lari (GEL);
- Term of 10 working days - 400 Georgian Lari (GEL);
- Term of 20 working days - free.
Subject to the legislative acts of Georgia, the license permit for the establishment, organization and management of gambling business is issued for a period of 5 years. Note that there is no requirement for the founder's place of residence - they can be both from Georgia or from any country of the world.
In addition, the prospective gambling business must submit its application to the relevant tax authority in Georgia and attach:
- Certificate from the State Register of Legal Entities;
- A document confirming the payment of the registration fee;
- A contract between the Applicant (or business) and the lottery tickets provider (except for the games organized in an electronic form) indicating the number of tickets produced;
- Terms and conditions of the proposed activity;
- A sample of the lottery ticket (except for the games organized in electronic form);
- In case of organizing sweepstakes, a document confirming the availability of the prize fund by the amount of at least GEL 10,000 (US$3600);
If an applicant is interested in the establishment of an online gambling game, then it is necessary for him to additionally provide the regulator with the following data:
- The actual address where the project will be managed;
- The list of games;
- The rules of these games;
- The place(s) and the deadline for issuing winning rewards;
- Information concerning the prohibition of underage (18 and below) participation in games and processing of personal data/documents.
After receiving permission or approval to conduct games offline, the holder of this permission has the right to apply to the Tax Services of Georgia, requesting for permission to conduct the games online with the provision of all of the above-stated documents.
Types of payments
The following are the payments required by relevant gambling authorities in the Republic of Georgia with regards to gambling, they include:
- Annual fee;
- Quarterly fee;
- Current tax fees, these includes:
- Income (the company acts as a tax agent, paying 20% tax on staff salaries and player winnings);
- Property tax at 1%;
- Corporate Income tax at 15%.
- Annual permit fee.
The recipient of the permit pays a fee for the first year of its activity and subsequently pays annually for the extension of the validity period of the permit. The smallest fee for issuing permits with regards to conducting gambling activities is carried out by entities organizing this particular business in resort areas.
The annual payment for permission to organize a casino:
- In Batumi, the annual payment is GEL250,000 (US$90 thousand) (At the same time, if the recipient of the permission is to organize a casino in Batumi and places this institution in a hotel with at least 100 rooms, then the business is exempted from paying this fee for 10 years).
- In Tbilisi - GEL5 million (US$1.8 million).
- In other municipalities like Kazbegi, Tskaltubo, Sighnaghi, this fee is not charged.
Fees for gambling activity
In addition to the annual fee, you must pay an administrative fee, the amount of which is set depending on the scale of the institution and is in a quarter:
Taxes
Taxes
- For each gaming machine - GEL 2–4 thousand / $ 720 - $ 1440;
- For each casino table - GEL 20–40 thousand / $ 7,200 - $ 14,400;
- For each table of the gambling club - GEL –14 thousand / $ 5000;
- For the game in a system-electronic form - GEL 25-30 thousand / $ 9 000 - 10 800;
- For each game in electronic form - GEL 1,5-20 thousand / $ 540 - $ 7220.
The rates of the gambling business
The rates of the gambling business
- For each casino gambling table in a quarter from 20,000 to 40,000 lari / $ 7,220 - $ 1,440;
- For each gambling machine - per quarter from 2,000 to 4,000 GEL / $ 722 - $ 1,444.
Our advantages
Benefits of obtaining a gambling license with Law&Trust International in Georgia include:
- Full range of related services: Provision of a full range of legal, corporate, government, and business intelligence related services in Georgia. A detailed overview of our services includes full legal support of the registration procedure, obtaining a legal address, interaction with the official government authorities of the jurisdiction, state fees, legal address of the company for a year, production and registration of company stamps and advising the client as part of the license registration process. Opening a bank account and the cost of these services are discussed during the consultation.
- Professionals and expertise of Law: Worldwide registration and legal maintenance of companies, accounting services, and audit, tax planning and optimization, trademark and patent registration.
- Domestic service: Law&Trust ensures our services cover every region, area or state in Georgia. Be rest assured that no matter where you intend to obtain a gambling business license in Georgia, we’ve got the location covered.
- Free initial advice: Free consultation from the lawyers of Law&Trust International regarding strategies or the provision of services for analyzing and developing a legal position on issues the client raises in Georgia.
- Confidentiality: Law&Trust makes use of modern technological features to keep the records and details of every client safe.
- Efficiency and productivity: Strategically providing up to date personalized services to help your business succeed.
Our clients
Our team
Victoria Zhelezova
Branch Director, HR
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Dariia Grib
Legal secretaries & Receptionists
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