Bookmaking continues to be one of the main evils of the Armenian society. Founder of the “Country for Life” party, former Minister of Labor and Social Issues of Armenia Mesrop Arakelyan wrote about this on his Facebook page, reports today, September 16, information-analytical portal “FactInfo”.
“The government has initiated a draft amendment to the law on advertising, which strengthens restrictions on advertising of bookmakers. However, the main direction of advertising by bookmakers of their services is still outdoor advertising, which flooded the whole of Yerevan with new small billboards, ”the ex-minister said.
According to him, if the authorities are in fact seeking a significant tightening in this area, it is necessary to completely ban outdoor advertising.
“In the first half of 2021, residents of Armenia made bets in the amount of 115 billion drams (about $ 235 million) in bookmakers. In other words, more than $ 1 million is wagered daily (on average). There is no alternative to banning the sphere, ”concluded Mesrop Arakelyan.
As EADaily reported, the Armenian government in February 2019 approved a bill on toughening the conditions for organizing lotteries and gambling in the republic. According to the law adopted by the National Assembly of the republic, slot machines and other gambling games, including sweepstakes, are removed from the administrative boundaries of Yerevan and can operate only in four cities: Tsaghkadzor, Sevan, Jermuk and Meghri. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously called the gambling industry “one of the pillars” of the previous economic model in the republic, which operated before the “Velvet Revolution” in the spring of 2018.
