Kyrgystan lowers the boom on gambling

The authoritarian president of Kyrgyz Republic, Almazbek Atambayev, has signed extensive gambling bans into law following the approval of amendments against gambling, betting and bookmakers by parliament in February this year.

The ban has involved amendments to the Tax Code, the Criminal Code, the Civil Code, the laws on licensing in the Kyrgyz Republic, and those on advertising, promotion, terrorism and money laundering.

President Atambayev said that the changes are necessary to eliminate any chance of gambling corrupting the young or causing damage to compulsive players. He is also convinced that a ban will help reduce the number of financial offences and crime generally in the former Soviet republic.