The Registry — The First Measure of Legitimacy
For a player or a partner, checking an operator’s legitimacy begins from one main channel: the official permit registry. Article 7 of the law provides that the issuance and revocation of permits for organising gambling and promotional games and for supplying games, the introduction of amendments to them and their passage through the registry are carried out by the Revenue Service in accordance with the Law on Licences and Permits and with this law. Therefore the first sign of a lawful operator is precisely that its permit is reflected in this registry and is current.
A second source is the player’s direct experience: a lawful operator requires identification and verification, documents the payment of winnings and considers claims under the established procedure — all of this is a direct consequence of permit obligations. If a platform evades these requirements, that is already the first signal that the matter concerns a formal shell rather than a registered structure.The registry’s data are not static: amendments, suspensions and revocations are also fixed through the same channel. Therefore the check should not be a one-time act — regular re-verification ensures that a change in a partner’s status is perceived in time.
What a Lawful Operator Must Have
Article 11 establishes the catalogue of permits: the organisation of promotional draws, casinos, systematic-electronic casino games, totalizators, systematic-electronic totalizators, gaming machine halls, systematic-electronic machine games, lotto, bingo, gambling clubs, and the supply of gambling and promotional games — each of these activities is subject to a separate permit. Such a permit is issued only to an entrepreneur registered in Georgia.
Segregation matters in checking: the operator’s specification must correspond to its actual activity — a casino operates under a casino permit, a supplier under a supply permit. Reading the catalogue makes it possible to expose a platform that masquerades as lawful behind an actual subject-matter shell.
The Layer of the Electronic Control System
Article 36-1 regulates the second layer of legitimacy. On the basis of a contract concluded between the Revenue Service and the selected person, the selected person is obliged, in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Finance, to introduce the electronic control system of the gambling business and to ensure its operation. Through this system the fulfilment of permit conditions by the organiser of a gaming machine and of systematically-electronically organised gambling or promotional games (except promotional draws), and by the organiser of a totalizator, is controlled.
The details of this article are quite telling: the contract is concluded for a term of no more than 15 years; the selected person’s server must be located on the territory of Georgia; the Government is authorised to impose additional requirements on the organiser and the supplier for the purpose of deploying and operating the system, and non-fulfilment of these requirements is regarded as a violation of permit conditions. Likewise — where an operator uses a system created with its own resources, the selected person checks it and issues an authorisation certificate.
The Authorisation Certificate — For Exposing Rival Platforms
At the practical level of checking legitimacy, the authorisation certificate plays a special role. It is a certificate issued by the selected person confirming the conformity of a game and of essential products with the standards of the Minister of Finance; its existence indicates that the operator or supplier is passing through the real process of integration with the electronic control system.
For business partners — banks, payment providers, suppliers — this contour is even stricter: their own compliance requirements demand confirmation of the operator’s legitimacy, and the permit registry’s data are the basis of that confirmation. The contour of verification is written down as follows: the existence and specification of the permit in the registry; conformity with the catalogue; the trace of connection to electronic control — the certificate and systemic integration; and finally, payment discipline, since delays in the fee and in the selected person’s charges translate directly into permit risk. It is precisely through this contour that one exposes whether a rival platform is a lawful player or a formal shell.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does checking an operator begin?
From the official permit registry maintained by the Revenue Service — the existence and specification of a permit there is the first measure.
What permits exist in the catalogue?
From promotional draws to casinos, from totalizators to supply — each activity operates under a separate permit, granted only to a Georgian entrepreneur.
What does the authorisation certificate show?
That the operator’s or supplier’s game and essential products have been checked and conformity confirmed by the selected person.
Who runs the electronic control system?
The selected person — under a contract of no more than 15 years, with a server that must be located on the territory of Georgia.
How We Help on Legal.ge
We will conduct a full verification of an operator’s legitimacy: registry data, conformity with the catalogue, the trace of integration with electronic control and an assessment of permit risks. Contact us on Legal.ge — checking legitimacy is the investment that insures against enormous losses.