The Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights has announced the results of monitoring in the field of online gambling and risky games.
The supervisory authority is taking measures to restrict access to resources that advertise bookmaker services. To facilitate this process, cooperation has been established with the Agency for Information and Mass Communications.
Since the beginning of the year, proposals to block 42 websites promoting bookmakers have been submitted to the AIMM. Of these, about 30 have been blocked in the prescribed manner.
In September 2023, the Competition Committee reported the blocking of 27 websites involved in promoting bookmakers and totalizators. At that time, the agency identified 553 instances of outdoor advertising for bookmaker services.
In April, a presidential decree was issued legalizing gambling, lotteries, and bookmaker activities in Uzbekistan starting from 2025. The National Agency for Prospective Projects (NAPP) will regulate and license these activities.
Legal entities organizing lotteries, online games, and bookmaker bets will pay a turnover tax at a rate of 4% on total income minus the winnings paid and returned bets over the next 5 years. Income from winnings for citizens will not be subject to personal income tax (PIT).
NAPP explained its decision to legalize gambling by stating that "prohibitions are essentially ineffective" due to the use of foreign and illegal services. The agency deemed it impractical to impose profit tax and VAT on the sector due to the risks of abuse in profit calculations related to the industry's specifics.
Previously, Spot reported that the Competition Committee fined Hamkor Reklama Servis for advertising material featuring the 1XBET logo.