Armenia has selected Malta-registered Random Systems International Limited to build and operate the country’s national gambling monitoring system, after a tender that drew three foreign bidders. The government approved the decision at its Cabinet meeting on 6 August, and the system takes effect on 1 January 2027.
The company already performs the same function in neighbouring Georgia, where it acts as the operator overseeing gambling activity. Eduard Hakobyan, acting chairman of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), told the Cabinet that experience decided the tender.
“As a result of the tender, Random Systems International Limited was declared the winner. The company has relevant experience and carries out similar activities in neighboring Georgia, where it serves as an operator overseeing gambling activities.”
Random Systems International Ltd is owned by Savoir Consulting and Argentum Holding Ltd. After winning the tender it set up an Armenian subsidiary, Game Analysis and Monitoring System LLC, which received state registration on 15 July.
A single private operator on a 15-year contract
The contract structure was fixed before the tender ran. The National Assembly adopted amendments in February 2026 establishing that digital regulation of the gaming sector would be carried out through one private operator, selected competitively and contracted for 15 years. The winner has six months from the date the decision enters into force to implement the electronic management system in full.
That is an unusually long concession for a national compliance platform, and it puts one private company between operators and the tax authority for the next decade and a half.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan framed the reform around tax. He said the gaming sector needs to be transparent given the continuing problem of unreported gambling transactions and the tax that goes unpaid as a result.
What the platform will track
The system will integrate with every licensed operator and organiser in Armenia, covering online platforms and physical venues. Regulators will get real-time visibility of bets, wins and losses, along with the ability to apply restrictions to vulnerable groups and to state and municipal employees, and to check compliance with responsible gambling and fair play requirements.
Rafael Gevorgyan, deputy chairman of the SRC, set out the point of the build when the legislation went before parliament.
“The implementation of the system will allow the state to receive centralised information on all transactions in the industry, including bets, wins, and losses.”
Gevorgyan acknowledged that the committee currently has no comprehensive picture of the sector’s activity and that digitisation of oversight is insufficient. The monitoring platform builds on the Law on Regulation of Gaming Activities (No HO-263-N), in force since 1 January 2025, which introduced geo-blocking obligations and mandatory .am domain hosting for licensed operators.
Payment blocks and player caps move in parallel
The monitoring contract is one part of a wider package. In May 2026, parliament passed amendments in first reading that would require Armenian commercial banks and other financial institutions to block transfers linked to illegal gambling, including transactions carrying MCC 7995, the merchant category code card networks assign to gambling. Payment processing would be available only to operators licensed in Armenia.
The same package covers internet service provider blocking of unlicensed sites, a ban on advertising for unlicensed operators, and prior regulatory approval for any advertising by licensed ones. Civil Contract MP Hayk Sargsyan, who drove the legislation, also proposed mandatory self-blocking tools on every licensed online casino site and app, a bar on pensioners with no other income, restrictions on welfare recipients, and a cap on individual losses at 20% of a player’s income.
“Citizens who no longer wish to play must be able to press that button, block their account, and no longer be able to play.”
Operators warn about the black market
The National Association of Gaming Operators (NAGO) has objected to the direction. In a statement published in May 2026, the association warned that players caught by the new restrictions are likely to move to unlicensed or foreign platforms outside state oversight. It also disputed the AMD 7.4 trillion figure used in parliamentary debate, noting that this is total betting turnover, at least 90% of which returns to players as winnings under return-to-player rules, rather than money lost by consumers.
That argument lands in a market already absorbing higher costs. Armenia introduced a 10% turnover tax on gambling operations in July 2025 and doubled online gaming licence fees in April 2025, with further annual increases scheduled through 2028. The tightening sits alongside Armenia’s growth as a B2B supplier base, where firms including BetConstruct and Digitain run development operations out of Yerevan while the domestic B2C market absorbs tax and licensing increases.
The choice of a Malta-registered supplier also puts an EU-domiciled company inside the tax enforcement machinery of a non-EU state. Regulators elsewhere in the region have taken different routes to the same problem: Turkey has expanded criminal enforcement and site blocking rather than centralised transaction reporting.
What happens next
The six-month implementation clock starts when the government decision enters into force, which puts integration work with operators through the back half of 2026. Two things are still open: the second reading of the payment blocking and player protection amendments, and how licensed operators handle the technical connection to a platform run by a private contractor with a 15-year mandate. From 1 January 2027, every bet placed in Armenia is meant to be visible to the SRC as it happens.
Source: State Revenue Committee of Armenia
