Regulation of gambling business in Kazakhstan
What steps are required to obtain a casino licence, and what are the challenges in the process?
Gambling business in the RK is regulated by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 12 January 2007 No. 219-III "On Gambling Business".
Permitted types of gambling business on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan include casinos, slot machine halls, bookmaker's offices, and totalisator. Electronic and internet casinos are prohibited.
Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan and its structural subdivisions are authorised to be the state body responsible for gambling activities. Licensing in the sphere of gambling business is determined by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 16 May 2014 No. 202-V "On Permits and Notifications". The Licence to conduct casino activities is issued for up to 10 (ten) years and is an inalienable licence; Class-2 (Class 2 - permits issued for facilities). The amounts to be paid for acquiring a licence, the procedure for calculation and payment options for the licence fee, and the fees for the use of licences are regulated by the Code of the RK dated 25 December 2017 No. 120-VI "On taxes and other mandatory payments to the budget (Tax Code)" (Tax Code).
Casinos on the territory of the RK are only allowed to be located in two established venues, which should also be agreed upon with the local executive bodies: in the Almaty region is the coast of Kapchagai reservoir, and for the Akmola region is the Burabai district. Currently, 6 casinos are operating in Kazakhstan (source: How many casinos continue to work in Kazakhstan: 16 June 2023, 10:26 - news on Tengrinews.kz ).
It should be mentioned that there are certain requirements set for casinos. For example, each casino shall have at least thirty gaming tables.
Hereinafter, requirements for obtaining a licence are provided. To carry out the casino activities there have to be:
- а real estate in the hotel complex of a category of no less than three stars (a building, a part of a building, structure or construction), which complies with sanitary-epidemiological and fire requirements; it has to be owned based on ownership rights or other legal basis, complying;
- gambling equipment to carry out casino activities, which has to be owned on the right of ownership (only for casinos);
- contracts with a security company (which has a licence for conducting security activities);
- the rules of gambling and (or) betting conduct in Kazakh and Russian languages;
- samples and nominations of used legitimation signs in Kazakh and Russian languages (only for casinos);
- mandatory reserves in the amount of 60,000 MCI for each casino licence (Note: in 2023, 1 MCI is 3,450 KZT, respectively 207,000,000 KZT) (only for casinos);
To obtain each licence, an applicant shall submit documents to the authorised body (licensor) confirming compliance with the qualification requirements. Mandatory reserves formed by the applicant for licences to engage in gambling activities are deposited in tanks on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Taxation in the gambling business sphere is carried out per the tax legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the Tax Code, gaming tables, gaming machines, and others are recognised as objects of taxation.
The tax rate is calculated per unit of the object of taxation:
- gaming table - 1,660 times the MCI per month (Note: in 2023, 1 MCI is 3,450 KZT, respectively 5,727,000 KZT );
- gaming machine - 60-fold MCI per month (207,000 KZT );
- It should be respectfully noted that the development and support of legal gambling businesses are deemed to be some of the ways to combat gambling addiction and Ludomania.
When properly registered and licensed, gambling businesses are subjected to all applicable legal restrictions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including the admission of persons of a certain age to gambling establishments, compliance with anti-money laundering requirements, and there is a control for the imposed restrictions, such as following the restrictions on legal capacity imposed by the court or by the person himself (self-limited); compliance with recently established requirements on the exclusion of government officials from gambling establishments, and legally pay taxes.
In practice, proper presence and development of registered and operating gambling businesses serves as a threshold for illegal underground gambling business operation. We believe that support and regulation of the legal gambling business in Kazakhstan is necessary and will bring positive results, including in the fight against illegal online casinos and other illegal manifestations of this business.
