The Legal Foundation of Integration
For a gambling operator, integration with the electronic control system is not a choice — it is a condition of lawfully conducting the activity. Under the fifth article of the law, the conduct and supply of every type of gambling and/or profitable game requires a permit, and non-fulfillment of permit conditions is considered a violation of the law and entails liability. The control system is precisely the instrument of supervising the fulfillment of those conditions.
The system is deployed through the selected person: under the third article of the law, the selected person is selected by the Revenue Service for the purpose of deploying and operating the system, and its server must be placed on the territory of Georgia. Through the system are controlled the fulfillment of requirements by the organizer of a gaming machine, of systemically-electronically organized games and by the organizer of a totalizator.
The Operator's Obligations
The source of the integration obligations is the article 36-1 of the law: the Government of Georgia is entitled to establish additional requirements and obligations for the organizer of the game and the supplier of gambling and/or profitable games for the purpose of the deployment and functioning of the electronic control system — and the non-fulfillment of these requirements is deemed a violation of permit conditions.
Thus the details of integration — which device, which interface, which procedure — are established at the level of the government, and their fulfillment is part of the permit conditions. This means that the integration plan must be managed not like a technical document but like a plan for fulfilling a permit obligation.
The Technical and Equipment Layer
The law also determines the substantive elements of integration: the online gaming system is the object of a first-time examination; where the operator uses a system created with its own resources, the selected person examines it and issues an authorization certificate in accordance with the standards of the minister of finance. The procedure of examination and issuance is established by the minister's normative act.
Integration also covers equipment: the devices and equipment to be placed with the organizer, the supplier and its contractor or agent, the control and monitoring system and its installation — all these elements are enumerated by law and must be planned separately in a practical work plan.
The Structure of Costs
The financial side of integration is also shaped by law: the permit seeker and holder are obliged to pay fees for the first-time examination of the online gaming system, for the issuance of an authorization certificate, for the devices and equipment to be placed, for the control system, for its installation and operation, and also for the delivery of a terminal for a totalizator. The types, amounts, periodicity and procedure of fees are determined by a legal act of the government — the separation of one-time and ongoing costs occurs precisely on the grid of that act.
The experience of integration repeats one simple principle: the technical assignment must be translated into the language of the legal obligation. The law sets the grid of sources — who examines, what is confirmed, what is controlled — and a technical plan built on that grid speaks in the language in which the verification proceeds. Therefore we assemble integration documentation in the terminology of the law, and not only in the engineering one.
The second principle is cost management: the types of fees are enumerated by law, and their distribution between one-time and ongoing budgets is part of the operational plan. A project that sees these layers from the outset will not meet financial surprises.
In closing we note: integration is the stage of a project where the price of error is highest — rework in the operational period costs both money and control risk. Therefore we place this stage at the very beginning of the project and are guided by the rule: first the legal grid, then the technical decision — and not the other way around. This sequence avoids the situations where a ready-made decision cannot satisfy the list of obligations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is integration mandatory?
Yes — the non-fulfillment of requirements established for the deployment and functioning of the system is a violation of permit conditions, connected with the risks to the permit.
With whom is the integration done?
With the selected person — the entity selected for deploying and operating the system, whose server is placed in Georgia and which also issues the authorization certificate.
What is included in the costs?
First-time examination, certificate, devices and equipment, the control system, installation and operation, and for a totalizator also the delivery of a terminal.
May an own system be used?
Yes — but it requires examination by the selected person and an authorization certificate in accordance with the standards of the minister of finance.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team fully guides the integration plan: from the description of obligations and the drafting of the technical assignment to the budget of costs and the operation regime.
Contact us through Legal.ge — integration is the part of a project where technical and legal discipline interlock, and correct planning saves both.