Revenues of Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) and bookmaker companies are identical, or very close, Hayastan faction MP Kristine Vardanyan said, responding to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that people placed bets with bookmakers during the FIFA World Cup and generated economic growth.
“Are we dealing with Civil Contract’s new model of economic growth?” she said, according to Panorama.am .
She reminded the Civil Contract leader that the ruling party had promised an entirely new economic model.
“The number of bets in Armenia has not decreased at all. You are proud that you acquired a stake in ZCMC, saying that we nationalized it and the state is receiving more money. Have you compared the revenues of ZCMC and bookmaker companies? They are identical, very close to each other.
“Why haven’t you acquired a stake here? What is preventing you? Or, more accurately, who is preventing you? Bookmaker companies — or, more directly, gambling, the gambling epidemic that becomes the basis for the destruction of many families and causes many suicides and tragedies — enjoy state patronage in Armenia. Will there come a day when you make these same statements about drug addiction?” Vardanyan said.
