The Republic of Georgia is preparing legislation to restrict gambling advertising and the ability to fund accounts with internationally licensed gambling sites.

Last week, Georgian media outlet Commersant reported that legislators were preparing a bill to curtail pretty much all gambling advertising other than sponsorships. However, Georgia Today reported that violators of these new advertising rules will be subject to fines of only GEL10k (US$3,830), which seems a bit low to deter any serious operators.

The Ministry of Finance is also reportedly mulling a prohibition on gambling by anyone under the age of 25. While the government claims it’s seeking to reduce the harms gambling can cause society, local gambling operators say the tactic will backfire, as younger Georgians will simply choose to patronize internationally licensed gambling sites.

Aha, said the government, that theory supports our plan to cut off the flow of money from Georgian punters to international gambling sites. Specifically, credit card firms and other payment processors would be required to restrict transactions with international gambling sites, so basically one should expect a significant spike in the online sale of golf balls, flowers and other definitely not-gambling items like the US witnessed in the pre-Black Friday era.