The parliament held hearings on the bill, which provides for a ban on advertising of all types of gambling.
Deputies, representatives of the ministry and departments, the National Lottery of Moldova, as well as the media took part in the discussion of the bill on Tuesday. The author of the project, deputy Dumitru Alaiba, noted that the restriction of advertising of all gambling games was initiated in order to ensure the mental health of the population and protect against gambling addiction. “For 6 months in 2021, 8.7 million lottery tickets were sold, for the whole of 2020 - 12.63 million, in 2019 - 18.5 million. Under the PPP contract, it is planned to install up to 5 thousand gaming devices. This is a business that relies on people's vulnerability and gambling addiction, ”Alaiba said, stressing that restricting advertising does not mean restricting the activities of gambling organizers. At the same time, representatives of lotteries and sports betting companies said that lotteries and bets belong to the category of easy, non-addictive gambling, and their advertising is not prohibited in Europe. Plamen Milanov, director of NGM Company, which is a private partner of the state in one of the gambling segments, noted that over 3 years the company's investments in advertising the state brand Loteria Națională amounted to about 74 million lei (including 12 million lei - VAT). According to the agreement, investments of a private partner in the state logo should amount to 234 million lei, respectively, if advertising is banned, this is a waste of money. He also said that this year, for the first time, the State received revenues from organizing sports bets - 140 million lei, if advertising is banned, the state revenues will decrease by about 40%. And this decline will occur not due to a decrease in the number of participants, but due to the growth of the gray market. “In addition, without obligations, the company invests in support of national sports (which is more than 5.5 million lei in 2019-2021), and even suggested the Ministry of Health to organize a lottery among vaccinated citizens, which is also a contribution to the health of the nation” - stressed Plamen Milanov. During the discussions, media representatives expressed their negative attitude to the proposed initiative: a ban on advertising lotteries and sports betting, as well as a restriction on sponsorship will hit the media budgets (the National Lottery provides about 8-10% of the advertising market). At the same time, they pointed to the absence of any research that would confirm the socially negative impact of lottery and sports betting on the mental health of citizens. Recall that at present in Moldova it is prohibited to organize any advertising activity in order to promote gambling held in casinos, and this ban does not apply to lotteries and other types of gambling (including those conducted online). The initiated bill proposes to ban advertising of all types of gambling, including lotteries and bets. In addition, it is proposed to prohibit the participation of organizers of gambling in sponsorship events or charitable activities, if the name of the business entity is mentioned. The bill must be considered by parliament. // 21.09.2021 — InfoMarket
