Between fiscal returns and social harm
Reframing gambling regulation in Kazakhstan through international evidence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13076972 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zhanna Khamzina (0000-0003-0913-2002, Zhetysu University named after Ilyas Zhansugurov), Yermek Buribayev (0000-0003-0433-596X, Zhetysu University named after Ilyas Zhansugurov, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Pages | 1718858-1718858 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2297-7775 • E-ISSN: 2297-7775 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1718858 |
| PMID | 41584713 |
| OpenAlex | W7119156383 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 18 |
Background Since 2007, Kazakhstan has gradually modernized gambling regulation and in 2023-2024 enacted major reforms, including the creation of a specialized regulator, tighter advertising rules, expanded exclusion regimes, and stronger criminal enforcement. Objective: To assess how this evolving regulatory model aligns with international practice and to derive evidence-informed policy options, treating gambling law as a sociolegal regime for allocating gambling-related risks and fiscal rents. Methods: We use an exploratory sociolegal mixed-methods design that combines doctrinal and comparative legal analysis with a descriptive synthesis of 2019-2024 official statistics on market size, taxation, enforcement, and harm-reduction proxies. Results Kazakhstan's legal gambling market expanded further in 2024, recorded criminal cases for illegal gambling declined, and coverage of debtor-based and voluntary self-exclusion instruments increased sharply, while a large offshore online segment persisted. Situating these trends within a comparative coding of the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy, we show that Kazakhstan combines strict advertising controls, extensive exclusion tools, and advanced enforcement technologies with a comparatively heavy and complex tax mix and a regulator located within a line ministry. Conclusion A public-health-oriented configuration of instruments appears normatively most consistent with the dual goals of channeling demand into the legal market and mitigating gambling-related harm, but the available data remain descriptive and the post-reform observation window is short. We discuss incremental policy options regarding taxation, regulator autonomy, harm reduction, and cross-border enforcement
Cognitive reframing · Criminal law · Descriptive statistics · Emerging markets · Enforcement · Harm · Law enforcement · Market failure · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Elder Abuse and Neglect · Gambling Behavior and Treatments
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |