Georgia bans 40% of population from gambling

There are now over 1.5 million people on the country’s gambling exclusion register.

Georgia.- The Georgian government has completed a nationwide review of people banned from gambling following the introduction of new rules in 2025. The country’s Revenue Service has confirmed that by the end of the year, there were 1,577,247 people on its exclusion registry, meeting former prime minister Irakli Garibashvili‘s target of 1.5 million excluded citizens in a country that only has a population of 3.7 million.

Only 36,000 of those people voluntarily self-excluded due to concerns about gambling-related harm, while 62 people were added through direct court orders. Most were added online via the Revenue Service’s website and its Videocall.rs.ge platform. Public-sector employees and citizens with criminal records are automatically put on the exclusion list.

Amendments to Georgian gambling legislation made the Revenue Service responsible for monitoring gambling operators and maintaining the national exclusion registry in 2025. The move followed a tightening of regulations in 2024 that increased the legal gambling age in Georgia to 25.

Garibashvili stepped down in 2024 and was succeeded by Irakli Kobakhidze, also of the ruling Georgian Dream party. Kobakhidze has maintained the strict stance on gambling, overseeing the introduction of a requirement for gambling venues to use biometric identification systems and a new tax framework.

Gambling licensees in Georgia are now subject to a 15 per cent tax on gross gaming revenue, while withdrawals by Georgian citizens are subject to a 5 per cent personal income tax. Foreign players are exempt from these charges as the government maintains the view that gambling in Georgia is mainly intended for international visitors and must not harm citizens’ wellbeing or financial stability.

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