Seven licenses revoked, 80 cases investigated by BEB: what is happening with online casinos in Ukraine
5 August 21:05
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The Bureau of Economic Security (BES), the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and PlayCity have agreed on coordination of actions and legislative initiatives related to the fight against illegal gambling. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the BES press service.
Acting Director of the BES Serhiy Perhun emphasized that combating illegal gambling is one of the priority areas of the Bureau’s activities. In his opinion, strengthening cooperation with PlayCity and the Ministry of Digital Transformation will significantly increase the efficiency of detecting offenses related to the gambling market.
Oleksandr Borniakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration, in turn, emphasized the importance of ensuring transparent rules of the market. According to him, the Ministry of Digital Transformation is focused on creating a competitive environment in which legal operators have the same conditions and the shadow segment is being pushed out.
Read also: Half of Ukraine’s top casinos to make losses in 2024 despite market growth
Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Natalia Denikeeva added that in order to achieve systemic changes, updates to the Tax Code and the laws of Ukraine On Advertising and On State Regulation of Activities in the Organization and Conduct of Gambling are necessary . According to her, the BES’s participation in the development of relevant initiatives will help to resolve problematic aspects in the field of state control over the gambling industry.
Gennadiy Novikov, head of PlayCity agency, drew attention to the problem of improper blocking of illegal online casino websites. Currently, there are about 4,000 Internet providers in Ukraine that are technically obliged to block websites by the decision of authorized bodies. However, some providers ignore this obligation, which makes it difficult to counteract the illegal segment. In addition, the agency’s specialists record numerous violations in advertising activities and non-compliance with license conditions by operators.
Over the past month alone, PlayCity revoked seven gambling licenses, and eight other companies received fines of UAH 400 thousand each for violating financial reporting requirements.
BES representative Oleksandr Tkachuk, who heads the Main Detective Unit, said that the Bureau is currently investigating almost 80 criminal proceedings on the organization and conduct of gambling without a license. Since the beginning of 2025, 53 people have already been notified of suspicion, and 16 cases have been referred to court. According to him, due to active de-shadowing measures, the state budget received more than UAH 9 billion from legal operators in the first half of 2025.
The participants of the meeting agreed to coordinate efforts in detecting violations, jointly develop regulatory changes, and exchange analytical information between the agencies.
As a reminder, in February 2025, the government transferred the function of formulating state policy in the field of gambling and lotteries to the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The newly created PlayCity agency is responsible for its implementation, which prioritizes the digitalization of the license issuance process, bringing the gambling market out of the shadows, and monitoring compliance with the rules.
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