Gambling is more popular than shopping for groceries in the Republic of Georgia, according to the national statistics service.

A recent report in Georgian media outlet Akhali Taoba quoted Sakstat figures that found gambling business spending totaled GEL5.65b (US$2.3b) in 2017, up from GEL4.2b in 2016 and just GEL2.1 in 2015. Meanwhile, last year’s total expenditure in Georgia’s ‘non-retail’ stores aka supermarkets was only GEL4.1b.

Critics are citing the above statistics as further proof that the government needs to rein in the evidently out-of-control gambling industry. These same critics want the government to get on with its previously stated plans to rein in gambling operators, but the government now appears more interested in ensuring it gets its proper cut of gambling revenue.

But these critics are reading the stats wrong, according to statistician Soso Archvadze, who pointed out that a great many of the individuals gambling in Georgian casinos are foreign tourists, including the hordes of Turks who flood across the border in search of the pleasures denied to them in their native land.