Casinos have contributed nearly 318 million KGS to Kyrgyzstan’s budget over the past six months

Between January and June, the Kyrgyzstan budget received 333.2 million KGS in gambling tax revenue. Compared with the same period last year, revenue rose by 123.7 million KGS, or 59 per cent.

Casinos remain the main source of revenue. Over the six-month period, they contributed 317.8 million KGS – around 95 per cent of all revenue from the gambling sector. A year earlier, casinos contributed 201.9 million KGS to the budget. Thus, payments rose by 115.9 million KGS, or 57.4 per cent.

Revenue from slot machines and computer simulators saw the fastest growth. It increased by almost 3.7 times – from 2.8 million KGS to 10.4 million KGS.

Tax revenue from online casinos and virtual gambling establishments almost tripled – from 701,800 KGS to 2 million KGS.

The only sector where revenue fell was that of bookmakers and totalisators. In the first half of the year, they paid 3 million KGS, compared with 4 million KGS a year earlier – a decrease of 25 per cent.

Thus, traditional casinos accounted for almost the entire increase in tax revenue from the gambling sector. Despite the rapid growth of the online segment and slot machines, their contribution to the budget remains modest for the time being.