Deputies in Kazakhstan raised the issue of banning gambling advertising

Dana Nurzhigit, a deputy of the Kazakh Senate, has put forward a proposal for a complete ban on the advertising of online and land-based casinos and bookmaker’s offices. This is stated in a request to the head of the government of the country, prepared by an initiative group of parliamentarians.

The document states that the senators receive many appeals in which citizens ask for protection of vulnerable categories of people. Problem gamblers are increasingly losing their property, taking unsustainable loans and losing their jobs.

Dana Nurzhigit noted: “The number of loans in the country is constantly increasing. Only since the beginning of 2022, the volume of loans to the population has increased by more than 28.3%. Also the network of accessible microloans is developing. Now many people get them simply in applications, without distraction from gambling. If a loan is obtained by a military man, the interest rises during the service, plunging the man into bondage.”

The senator noted that interest in gambling is growing and deputies cannot help but be alarmed by this fact.

“It’s a real disaster. We used to fight to keep gambling halls out of the vicinity of schools. Today they are not there, they have moved into the pockets of teenagers, where you can access the casino in an app downloaded to your phone. We have already asked to ban gambling operators from accepting credit card payments and this issue is still being discussed.”

According to the official, representatives of the gambling industry added 16.5 billion tenge to the country’s budget in 2019, but the Kazakh government had to allocate much more money for social programs. According to statistics, the number of players is about 350 thousand, and how many of them are problematic, one can only guess.

Due to these circumstances, a group of parliamentarians asks the government to initiate changes in the legislation to ban the advertising of online platforms providing casino and betting services.

Recall that live gambling brought Evolution a 69% increase in revenue.