Ukraine should strengthen supervision of the gambling market and limit its advertising as much as possible
27 November 2024 16:35
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy has recommended adopting in the second reading and as a whole the draft law N9256-d “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Combat Gambling Addiction (Ludomania) and Improve State Regulation of Activities on Organization and Conduct of Gambling and Lotteries”. This was announced by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the MP, the draft law was significantly revised by the Committee for the second reading. The proposals and amendments taken into account include
– liquidation of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries and distribution of its powers between the relevant ministry and a newly created body without collegial status
– prohibition of gambling advertising, except for a limited list of permitted methods, and prohibition of sponsorship, except for sports sponsorship;
– modernization of the tools of state supervision over the gambling market – controlled play is introduced as a control tool to replace actual inspections;
– introducing effective measures to combat gambling addiction, blocking illegal websites, tightening requirements for organizers and adding grounds for license revocation, requiring gambling organizers to make all non-cash payments exclusively through banks, improving requirements for the State Online Monitoring System, etc;
– improving the legislation on state lotteries, in particular, establishing similar requirements for the ownership structure, criteria of impeccable business reputation, grounds for license revocation, brand requirements, as well as requirements for payments in state lotteries as for gambling organizers.
According to Danylo Hetmantsev, it is also planned to amend the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Interests of Subjects of Submission of Reports and Other Documents during Martial Law or State of War” to resume reporting by gambling organizers and state lottery operators, etc.
The gambling business in Ukraine is impressively increasing its wealth
According to the Opendatabot Index, the top 10 most successful gambling companies increased their wealth 28 times last year. The Index includes 9 online casinos and 1 lottery operator. SpaceX (Cosmolot brand) became the leader, and Favbet (FAVBET brand) had the largest increase in earnings – 425 times.
Leaders of the gambling industry in Ukraine earned UAH 54.92 billion in 2023, which is 28 times more than in 2022, when it was UAH 1.94 billion.
The number of gambling addicts in Ukraine is growing steadily
Ukraine has a register of problem gamblers – people who are restricted from accessing gambling facilities and participating in gambling. Opendatabot points out that 99% of gambling addicts have put themselves on the blacklist.
According to the data of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, 3,871 people have been included in the list over the three years of its existence. The vast majority – 87% of them – were included in the list in 2023. The register of gambling addicts grew 8 times last year.
