President signs law on liquidation of KRAIL
4 January 2025 22:09
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law on strengthening control over the gambling market, which, in particular, provides for the liquidation of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries. This is stated on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The document proposes to create a new authorized body instead of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) by April 1, 2025, and to designate a ministry that will formulate policy in the field of gambling and lotteries.
This draft law was originally initiated by Danylo Hetmantsev, Victoria Kinzburska, Halyna Vasylchenko, Robert Horvat, Anna Kolisnyk, Borys Prykhodko, Oleksandr Sova, and Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
According to the group of authors, the changes to the legislation they proposed are aimed at combating gambling addiction.
The adoption of the draft law will improve the existing system of state regulation of the organization and conduct of gambling, limit aggressive gambling advertising, increase the ability to protect potentially vulnerable groups of the population by introducing a new basis for inclusion in the Register of persons who have limited access to gambling facilities and/or participation in gambling, as well as increase the payment discipline of licensees in the timely payment of all mandatory payments,” the explanatory note to the draft law reads.
What does the law signed by Zelenskyy propose?
The law signed by the President requires
- restrict casino advertising with the use of symbols of the Armed Forces and other military formations
- prohibit registration of several accounts for one player in online casinos;
- restrictions on the business reputation of management and gambling operators;
- disabling and blocking illegal gambling websites;
- increase liability for gambling operators for violations of the law;
- identify additional tools to limit visits to gambling facilities and participation in gambling for potentially vulnerable categories of the population during the period of martial law;
- improve the tools for controlling the gambling business;
- establish additional criteria for license revocation, improve the requirements for impeccable business reputation of officials of gambling organizers, and set requirements for gambling service providers.
In addition, the document prohibits gambling advertising. Exceptions: advertising on TV and radio at night, in the media for people over 21, on platforms and in search engines with a target audience over 21.
The law also sets a requirement that gambling organizers must make all non-cash payments exclusively through banks.
What preceded it
The start of changes in the gambling industry was an appeal of military man Pavlo Petrychenko to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in which he voiced the problem of gambling addiction among the military.
on April 24, the Verkhovna Rada approved in the first reading a draft law on improving state regulation of gambling and lotteries and combating gambling addiction.
