During the 1920s, the gambling industry and the government in Georgia had a very complicated relationship. The first casino in the country was opened in 1920 in the capital, but it was quickly closed.
Then, Georgia was under the rule of the Soviet Union until 1991 and during this period, gambling was considered an illegal activity. Ever since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, gambling has been labeled as a legal activity. After gambling was made legal, the industry started to boom.
But, even though this activity was always legal, there were not a lot of land-based casinos where the players could enjoy these games. That is why the online casino industry had a lot of space to grow during the 2010s. Only a few cities in this country had facilities of this character, which is why residents that did not live close-by, by had to travel if they wanted to gamble.
With the growth of online casinos, the economy in Georgia started collecting very high gross revenues. The gross revenue of the gambling industry in 2018 in this country exceeded $5 billion, which was the equivalent of a third of the total GDP that year. Just to compare the results, gambling had gross revenue of around $2 billion in 2014. As statistics show, its popularity over the course of 4 years rose very fast, and it managed to double its revenues.
Since both land-based and online gambling became so profitable, the government became very lenient towards these types of activities. That is why, even though online gambling is not strictly regulated by a specific law, Georgian players that access online casinos face no penalties.
Online casinos cannot be based in Georgia, but the players are more than welcome to access offshore accounts and have fun there.
Gambling Nowadays in Georgia
These days, gambling is booming in Georgia. A vast majority of the population regularly goes to land-based casinos or online casinos to play their favorite gambling games. There are a total of 13 land-based casinos in the country. Five of them are in the capital, Tbilisi, six are in Batumi, and two more are in the countryside.
Not only that but there are thousands of online casinos that offer their services to Georgian players. They operate 24/7/365 and players can access them from any time and any place. It is interesting to mention that mobile gaming has been on the rise in Georgia and recently, more and more people are fond of the idea of accessing online casinos via their smartphones as access is much easier. All players need is a stable Internet connection.