Kazakhstan ready to change its attitude on gaming regulation after nearly two decades of stagnation
The government is reportedly considering expanding gaming zones to strengthen its economy in the face of increasing global uncertainty, local sources said.
The new zones are mostly located in tourism-oriented areas within four regions: Mangistau on the Caspian Sea coast; Panfilov district and Lake Alakol in Zhetysu; Talgar district in the Almaty region; and the Markakol area and Zaisan district in East Kazakhstan.
It is also believed that the new zones will not be accessible to domestic residents, in addition to a variety of social responsibility requirements, as the government continues to shield its inhabitants from the regulated gambling business.
And with the growth of gaming zones, there will be a far more strict clampdown on advertising, which is very much a total ban on advertising.
Moreover, the new growth also coincides with a ramping up of action against the black market, which is mainly targeting the country’s leading payment providers to stop the flow of funds to unlicensed operators from Kazakh players.
The article states that the government has been in direct communication with the country’s main mobile operators (Tele2, Beeline, Kcell, Activ) to ensure that payments are banned in real time.
A number of geoblocking measures will also be implemented to further clamp down on unlicensed operators targeting domestic residents in Kazakhstan.
There is no official statistic on the size of the black market in Kazakhstan but it is believed to be large since the size of the iGaming sector in the country has increased and tax intake from the sector has remained modest relative to the whole size of the iGaming sector.
Kazakhstan is in many respects following the lead of neighboring Russia which is due to establish a new gaming zone in the Altai Republic, a mountainous region, and similarly positioning the zone as a major tourist draw rather than a local destination.
Russia has demonstrated how gaming may be used to boost the economy and increase tax income.
Putin has always been against gaming legislation, seeing the sector as being particularly damaging to society. But he has grudgingly accepted its value as an economic instrument by opening up the zones.
One of Russia’s newer constructions in Sochi has generated a big piece of tax income from the gaming zones, roughly 765m rubles (£7.3M) according to media sources.
