New era for Georgian gambling: offshore licenses and regulatory changes

On June 27, new regulations for gambling in Georgia were adopted and later officially published. Effective December 1, 2024, licensees for online casinos, online slots, and online betting will be permitted to operate “offshore”.

Our Partner, Ivan Kurochkin , in collaboration with George Mamulaishvili , Head of Administration of the Georgian Gambling Association / საქართველოს სათამაშო ბიზნესის ასოციაცია/ , has shared their insights into the situation.

Currently, online licenses are tied to a single domain and website. From December, each license will cover up to two domains/websites. Licensees with two domains must dedicate one to the Georgian audience and the other to foreign players. A single domain can serve any audience. Moreover, the stakes now can be accepted in EUR and USD (not just in local currency GEL as before).

The inclusion of foreign players in the law is a new development for Georgian regulation. Although this does not significantly change the current practice of accepting all players with difference in just age verification (18 for foreigners, 25 for Georgians), this amendment has the potential to serve as an alternative to certain offshore licenses. The revised law could facilitate the adoption of a new licensing format, positioning it as feasible substitution for prominent offshore jurisdictions (e.g., Isle of Man, Curacao or any other flexible license jurisdiction).

Further, a new tax will be introduced. Operators serving both local and foreign players must calculate revenues separately. Those serving only foreign players will have a lower tax burden of 5% GGR (only on revenues from foreign players). The current tax of 15% GGR will apply only to operators targeting Georgians. Also, a winning tax in amount of 5% payable by the operator on behalf of player is not applicable for offshore players (except for P2P games).

The annual license fees remain unchanged:

·       Online casinos – GEL 5,000,000 (~US$ 1,7m).

·       Online slots – GEL 1,000,000 (~US$ 340,200).

·       Online betting – GEL 100,000 (~US 34,000).

There is also a quarterly gambling business fee in addition to license fee payable by online betting and online casino – it ranges from GEL 250,000 to GEL 300,000 (from ~US$ 85,000 to ~US$ 100,000). As for the online slots, this is replaced with payment of a full amount of GEL 1,000,100 (~US$ 370,400 USD) at once.

It should be noted, that online betting license is the only license which is still require a land-based sports betting license to apply for it. While online casino and online slots licenses can be obtained by anyone meeting the criteria, online betting is available only for land-based sports betting licensees.

There are some key requirements for offshore online gambling license (with a term of 5 years except for online betting, which is tied to the term of land-based sports betting license):

·       Only a company registered in Georgia can apply for online license.

·       Company-applicant must not be in a tax debt.

·       UBOs / founders / partners of the company-applicant must not have a criminal background.

·       General SOW and KYC checks should be passed (source of funds of the company, incorporation documents, non-criminal record certificate of key persons, etc.).

·       After receiving a license, a certification from RSG and integration of monitoring system should be done.  

All requirements remain the same as for current online gambling licenses. No great novelties for offshore types of licenses.

Though, further clarifications and regulations may be introduced before December. Will stay tuned.