Armenia will let telecommunications operators block unlicensed online gambling and lottery websites from 8 February 2027, under amendments the State Revenue Committee (SRC) is preparing to the country’s gaming law.
The package covers technical blocking of offshore platforms at network level and tighter limits on advertising by companies that hold no Armenian licence. State news agency Armenpress reported the plans, which revise provisions of the Law on Regulation of Gaming Activities.
Blocking and advertising restrictions
The provisions being revised already deal with unlicensed operators that offer online gambling and lottery services. The changes extend them to blocking by telecoms providers and to the advertising those operators run in Armenia.
The SRC linked the revisions to the availability of gaming services and advertising from foreign companies without Armenian licences, as digital technology has made offshore platforms easier to reach.
The committee said the new regulations do not restrict legal gaming activity, and described them as support for the licensing system and the licensed market.
Blocking at the telecoms layer changes the enforcement route. Armenian action against offshore operators has so far run through licensing conditions and, since May, through the banking system. Network blocking adds telecoms companies to the enforcement chain and moves the pressure point from the money to the connection.
Monitoring system due a month earlier
The blocking rules sit on top of a monitoring build already underway. Armenia adopted amendments in February to create a single digital system for gambling regulation, connecting licensed online and land-based operators and giving the SRC real-time information on wagers, deposits and losses. One operator selected by the committee runs the system.
Random Systems International Limited (RSI), a Malta-registered regulatory technology firm, won that role on 6 August after a tender that drew applications from three foreign companies. The agreement runs for 15 years. The system is due to be fully operational in January 2027, a month before the blocking provisions take effect.
Acting SRC chairman Eduard Hakobyan pointed to the company’s record in the region:
The company has relevant experience and carries out similar activities in neighbouring Georgia, where it serves as an operator overseeing gambling activities.
Armenpress reported that RSI has six months from the point the decision enters into force to implement the electronic management system in full. Alongside bet monitoring, the system carries responsible gambling functions, including restrictions that keep vulnerable individuals and state employees out of licensed products.
Real-time visibility of wagers and deposits also gives the SRC a baseline for the licensed market. Once the committee can see what licensed operators handle, the gap between that figure and estimated total play becomes the measure of what blocking and payment restrictions are meant to recover.
Payment blocking already in force
Armenia’s gambling legislation has been rebuilt since the National Assembly adopted a new framework in June 2024. That law entered into force on 1 January 2025.
In May, the cabinet of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan added a payments block for unlicensed gambling, giving the Ministry of Finance greater control over Armenian banks and financial institutions. Those institutions must avoid processing payments linked to unlicensed operators.
Taken together, the two measures cover separate channels: payments through Armenian banks, and access through Armenian networks. Neither reaches operators that take payment in crypto or route players through VPNs, which is the limit most blocking regimes run into.
What happens before February 2027
The timetable is tight. RSI has to deliver a working system in January 2027, and the blocking provisions follow on 8 February 2027. Offshore operators serving Armenian players face payment restrictions now and site blocking from that date, with advertising channels closing at the same time.
The outline published so far does not set out how domains will be identified for blocking, how fast telecoms operators must act on a listing, or whether an operator can contest one. Those procedures, and the scope of the advertising restrictions, will decide how much the reform costs brands that currently treat Armenia as an open market.
Source: State Revenue Committee
