Essential information and facts about Uzbekistan: Tashkent
Capital
Total Area Population Median age
447,
400sq.km 31.3 million 30.1 years
Religion Muslim, other
Ethnic Groups Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, Russian Languages Uzbek (official), Russian, other Currency Som (UZS)
Government type Presidential Republic Chief of State President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (since 2016)
Head of Government Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov (since 2016)
Elections President elected by majority vote. Next election due 2026. Prime Minister nominated by majority party.
Unemployment 6 per cent (2022) Tourism 6.75m (2019)
Code to establish the responsibility of those violating betting activities or participating in fixed games.
Te Agency for Capital Market Development and various departments submitted a draft regulation proving for:
l
Implementation of licensing of betting activities to be organised and issued by Agency for Capital Market Development.
l
Regulation of the provision of services by business entities in betting activities in telecommunication networks, including internet providers.
l
Directing part of the income of those betting activity business entities to the development of sports including football.
l
Introduction of mechanisms of state control over betting activities.
According to sports development ministers, legalising bookmakers will develop professional and children’s football in the country and up to 45 per cent of the incoming taxes from bookmaker activities would be invested in this development – to construct stadiums, training fields and academies, hold amateur tournaments and set up talent scout and education programmes. Broadcast of games, sales of merchandise and tickets would be privatised.
In neighbouring Kazakhstan it was said at the end of 2018 bookmakers sponsored domestic sports to the tune of T1bn (approx €2m) with
P150 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
around T16bn going to the treasury in taxes (€32m).
At the time only two private clubs were registered in the Uzbekistan Super League – Pakhtakor Tashkent which is 80 per cent privately owned by SFI Management (run by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov) and the Kokand 1912 club from the Ferghana region. Other clubs use state subsidies and are often in the care of state-owned companies. Te idea is to transfer club shares to the State Assets Management Agency which will then put them up for sale and gradually transferred to entrepreneurs with the plan to ‘benefit the development of football.’
Te plan aimed to turn football into the “most popular sport” in Uzbekistan and set up a section and training programme for gifted professional players and develop the sport in schools and introduce and improve levels of training and competitions.
Te idea is part of an overall privatisation plan in Uzbekistan and part of Mirziyoyev’s economic reform agenda which has just re-started after delays due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Recently Tashkent agreed to sell off one of the country’s 12 state-owned banks (UzAgroExportBank) to Uzbek tycoon Olimjon Shodiyev who owns a company called Support Level.
Initially, January 2021 was cited as the date betting activities would be approved but nothing happened. Some said the delays were due to the changes in the government bodies which regulate gambling.
Interest in betting had increased during the 2020 lockdown and several companies were already preparing to open in the country.
Ten in April 2021 the Agency for Capital Market Development was abolished and all functions were transferred to the Ministry of Finance which is now the Ministry of Economic Finance. By Autumn 2021 government agencies were preparing a legal framework for bookmaker activities but then in early 2022 President Mirziyoyev withdrew his support for the decree and stated he intended to launch a campaign against unlicensed gambling.
However, a year later the idea has resurfaced once again via a new resolution and the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164
