The government of Kazakhstan has taken steps for a regulatory overhaul, announcing it will require all gambling businesses to submit direct reports on the gambling activities and profiles of Kazakh citizens.
The final decision was approved by the deputies of the Mazhilis (Parliament), who instructed for new gambling reporting duties to be added to the Tax Code of Kazakhstan.
Initially reported by SBCCIS: “As dictated by the deputies of Parliament, owners of betting companies and totalisators must transmit information about the size of bets, losses and winnings to the tax authorities online.”
Kazakh-licensed gambling operators will be required to integrate hardware and software systems with the systems of the National Tax Authority to automatically transfer the necessary information of customer activities.
It comes after concerns were raised about engagement in gambling from Kazakh youth, which led to President Kassym Tokayev demanding changes to the region’s framework.
The review has been undertaken by Vice Minister, Yerzhan Erkinbayev, who in September published draft amendments proposing that the current gambling age-limit be raised from 21 to 25.
Further proposals seek to extend criminal liability of gambling venues on underage infringements and providing illegal gambling services, to be directly prosecuted by Kazakhstan federal police force.
Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan maintains no dedicated legislative framework to govern gambling disciplines.
