The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan approved a bill that allows opening casinos in hotel buildings with a state share in three readings at once. The document was initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers to attract investors.
The current law prohibits gambling activities from being located in real estate that is fully or partially state or municipal property, as well as in real estate of enterprises, institutions, organizations that have a share of the state or local government bodies in the capital.
The background statement to the bill states that there is currently a positive trend in the development of gambling in the country.
«This is evidenced by the following data: 3 licenses have been issued for casino activities, 4 licenses for bookmakers. In total, gambling entities paid 210 million soms to obtain casino licenses, and 42 million soms to obtain bookmaker licenses,» the document says.
In June 2022, President Sadyr Japarov signed the Law «On Gambling Activities in the Kyrgyz Republic». It was established that Kyrgyzstanis, foreign citizens under 21, and incapacitated foreign citizens cannot be clients of gambling establishments.
At least 96,896.2 million soms were transferred to the budget of Kyrgyzstan from the payment of taxes on gambling activities in 2023, the Ministry of Finance reported. Deputies were outraged that gambling activities do not bring the revenues to the budget promised by the Cabinet of Ministers.
