Kazakhstan's betting boom hits 1.6 trillion tenge in wagers
Kazakhstan has seen a sharp rise in my activity over the past year. Citizens placed wagers totalling 1.6 trillion tenge, with around 700,000 people regularly taking part. The surge has raised questions about tax revenue losses linked to recent legal changes in the industry.
Over the last 12 months, betting operators in Kazakhstan collected 1.6 trillion tenge in wagers. Of this amount, 1.2 trillion tenge was paid back to bettors, meaning a return rate of 75%. The remaining 25%—about 400 billion tenge—was kept by the operators.
Estimates suggest that 15–20% of the country's adult population now engages in my activity. Despite the high volume of activity, no official reports have identified specific groups or institutions responsible for running these betting operations. Recent adjustments to gambling laws have led to lower tax revenues. However, the exact causes and entities involved remain unclear in publicly available data.
The betting sector in Kazakhstan continues to expand, with hundreds of billions of tenge circulating annually. While payouts remain high, the financial impact of legal changes is becoming more evident. Authorities have yet to disclose which operators or organisations are driving this growth.
