In January, Kyrgyzstan’s budget received 31 million soms from casinos, betting shops, and bookmakers. A report of the Ministry of Finance says.
The bulk of the amount came from registered casinos, which paid more than 29.4 million soms in taxes. Bookmakers and betting shops transferred 1 million soms to the budget.
Online casinos paid a total of 134,000 soms, while slot machine halls — 375,000 soms.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in January last year, casinos replenished the budget by 22 million soms.
In June 2022, President Sadyr Japarov signed the Law «On Gambling Activities in the Kyrgyz Republic». The law states that Kyrgyzstanis, foreigners under 21, and legally incapacitated foreign nationals cannot be clients of gambling establishments.
In 2023, the country’s budget received 96,896.2 million soms from gambling tax payments, the Ministry of Finance reported. MPs were outraged that gambling activities were not generating the revenues promised by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Three years ago, when he was Minister of Economy and Commerce, Daniyar Amangeldiev assured that gambling activities would bring from 3 billion to 6.5 billion soms to the budget. This did not happen. The Cabinet revised its own expectations, lowering the forecasted revenue to 500 million soms annually starting this year.
