Hetmantsev accuses Fedorov of deliberately disrupting gambling monitoring
3 September 11:59
The head of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, has accused the Ministry of Digital Transformation of deliberately disrupting the launch of the gambling control system, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
On his Telegram channel, the MP said that the tender for the creation of the State Online Gambling Monitoring System (SOGMS) was announced only on September 2, although work in this direction has been underway since 2024.
“Despite the fact that the decision to postpone the launch of the State Online Monitoring System was made in December 2024, despite the fact that the new body with the brilliant name of Placement was created in March, despite the fact that before that the notorious KRAIL had been blocking the launch of the system ordered by gambling organizers for 3 years, the tender for the development of the system was announced only yesterday,”
– the MP wrote.
He believes that such a late decision definitely disrupts the timing of the system launch, and it was done with intent.
“…this means that the September 30 deadline for launching the system has been disrupted. It has been disrupted on purpose. To please gamblers interested in working in the shadows. Thus, despite all our efforts, the state and the army will continue to receive billions less under the quiet approval of gamblers’ palms,”
– Hetmantsev said.
The parliamentarian also demands political responsibility from the head of the specialized body Novikov and the relevant ministry.
“I am convinced that the head of the body, Novikov, who previously had a sad experience of working in KRAIL, as well as the supervising ministry, should bear political responsibility for this failure,”
– he emphasized.
Hetmantsev also criticized the overall work of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in fighting the shadow sector.
“We have overestimated the reformist power of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and their will to put an end to the shadow gambling. Mykhailo [Fedorov – ed.] and his guys are obviously playing with expensive PR with changing the photos in Diia, instead of ensuring market transparency and countering thieves,”
– the MP summarized.
The state online monitoring system is a comprehensive IT platform for tracking rates and payments in real time. The implementation of such a system should ensure full transparency of financial transactions of the gambling industry for government agencies. As a result, regulators will be able to control every bet and payout, which will make it impossible for gambling operators to hide income and evade taxation.
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the lack of effective control leads to the loss of about UAH 10 billion annually due to the shadow casino market.
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“PlayCity instead of KRAIL: the history of the reform
On March 21, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to establish a new central executive body – the State Agency of Ukraine “PlayCity”. This step was a response to numerous complaints and criticisms against the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL), which was previously responsible for this sector but suffered a serious reputational blow.
Reasons for the liquidation of CRGL
In December 2024, the Verkhovna Rada voted to liquidate the CRGL. The main reasons were accusations of corruption, inefficiency, political bias, and, worst of all, suspicions of cooperation with operators linked to Russian business. Law enforcement reports mentioned cases of issuing licenses to companies that acted in the interests of Russian online casinos, which became a critical factor against the backdrop of the war with Russia.
The purpose of creating the PlayCity agency
The newly created agency is to exercise full control over the gambling and lottery sector in Ukraine. The main tasks are to ensure transparency, fairness, efficiency, and digitalization of the regulatory process. This includes automating the issuance of licenses, creating an open register of operators, and introducing mechanisms that will allow the state to receive real tax revenues from the market.
Organizational structure
The Agency is accountable to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and is coordinated through the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. This indicates that PlayCity is planned to be built as a digital, technological body with high standards of transparency and accountability. In 2025, the agency operates within the funding provided for the liquidated KRAIL, and the staff includes 61 employees – which may indicate an attempt to create a compact, efficient team.
Expected changes in the market
The launch of PlayCity is part of the government’s broader strategy to de-shadow the gambling business. It is expected that the new structure will allow for better detection and blocking of illegal operators, introduction of strict control over compliance with market rules, and increased tax discipline. It is also important that the agency’s digital mechanisms should ensure full traceability of financial flows, which will become a barrier to corruption and abuse.
The main tasks of the new institution are:
- regulation of the gambling market;
- supervision of compliance with the law by operators;
- introducing modern digital tools to control the turnover of funds;
- establishing transparent rules of the market;
- protection of players’ rights and prevention of gambling addiction.
The agency is expected to receive more autonomy in personnel decisions, have a transparent mechanism for forming the management and work closely with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the State Tax Service.
However, despite the fact that the launch of the structure was announced in the spring and the start of its work in June, it has not yet started working properly. The Playcity website is more dead than alive, and the tender for the development of the state online gambling monitoring system was announced only yesterday, September 2, 2025.
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