The Nature of the Gambling Business Fee and the Budgets
The gambling business in Georgia pays a special fee regulated by the Law of Georgia on the Gambling Business Fee. Under the second article of this law, the gambling business fee, except the one established for organizing a lottery, is a mandatory payment into the municipal budget, while the fee established for organizing a lottery is a mandatory payment into the state budget. The fee is paid by the persons determined by the same law, in the amount and under the procedure established by it.
For the hotel-casino model this determination carries double weight: on the one hand, the fee for a casino and a slot machine hall goes into the local budget, which gives the municipality a fiscal interest within the ranges of the rates; on the other hand, the amount of the fee depends directly on where the taxation object is physically placed. Therefore the choice of a hotel-casino location is determined not only by tourism logic — it is the central parameter of fee budgeting.
Taxation Objects
The fourth article of the law determines what is taxed with the gambling business fee. The objects are: the casino table, the club table and the slot machine; the prize fund of a promotional game; casino, slot machine and totalizator games organized in a systemic-electronic form on the basis of the corresponding permit; the difference between the total value of lottery tickets sold and the prize fund; and also a cash desk of systemically-electronically organized games placed outside the facility organized on the basis of an organization permit.
The list of objects reflects the real anatomy of the sector: both physical units (a table, a machine) and online activity and monetary infrastructure (a cash desk) are taxed separately. For a hotel-casino this means that the budget must simultaneously plan the placement of casino tables and of other objects — each of them creates a separate tax burden.
National Rate Ranges
The fifth article of the law differentiates the rates by type of gambling business and establishes the ranges. For each casino table the rate is from 20 000 to 40 000 lari per quarter inclusive; for each slot machine — from 2 000 to 4 000 lari per quarter inclusive; for each promotional game — 10 % of the prize fund.
- for casino games organized in a systemic-electronic form — from 250 000 to 300 000 lari per quarter inclusive;
- for slot machine games organized in a systemic-electronic form — from 250 000 to 300 000 lari per quarter inclusive;
- for totalizator games organized in a systemic-electronic form — from 250 000 to 300 000 lari per quarter inclusive;
- for organizing lotteries — 10 % of the difference between the total value of tickets sold and the prize fund;
- for each cash desk of a systemically-electronically organized game — from 1 500 to 20 000 lari per quarter inclusive;
- for each club table — from 4 000 to 14 000 lari per quarter inclusive.
The law also contains a separate note: where the holder of a casino organization permit uses a club table only for holding a gambling tournament, it is entitled not to pay the fee established for the club table. This exception matters when planning tournament formats, but its application must correspond precisely to the case envisaged by the law.