Casino advertising and million-dollar fines: the first enforcement proceedings have appeared in the register of debtors
16 January 17:56
For the first time in Ukraine, large fines have been imposed for illegal advertising of gambling. The relevant entries have appeared in the Unified Register of Debtors.
This was reported by the analytical service “OpenDataBot,” according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Who is being fined and for what
These are sanctions imposed by the State Agency for Control of Gambling and Lottery Business PlayCity on bloggers and one Telegram channel for promoting online casinos in violation of the law.
In particular, the register of debtors contains two enforcement proceedings against blogger Karina Kuchmenko, known as Simbochka. The fines amount to UAH 4.8 million and UAH 24,000.
Not the first cases, but the first coercion
Previously, information about PlayCity fines was also entered into the registers in relation to blogger Diana Movsesyan and Maxim Lavrinenko, associated with the Telegram channel “Truha.” However, the opening of enforcement proceedings was refused at that time due to procedural violations and court appeals.
In total, 13 bloggers and one media resource received fines for illegal advertising of online casinos.
Why the money has not yet been paid
According to OpenDataBot, none of the fines have been paid voluntarily yet. Some of the decisions are still within the three-month period allotted by law for voluntary payment, while others are being appealed in court.
PlayCity CEO Gennady Novikov said that the agency will continue to prosecute illegal gambling advertising and is confident in the legality of its decisions.
PlayCity stepped up its control of the gambling market in 2025. In six months of operation, the agency blocked about 2,500 websites and restarted the lottery market.
Earlier, the regulator also fined blogger Anna Alhim 4.8 million hryvnia for illegal advertising of online casinos.
