Zelenskyi reacted to the petition to limit the operation of online casinos

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi tasked the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Secretary of the National Security Council to collect analytics on online casinos and their impact on part of society.

"Today, a petition on the subject of casinos — online gambling platforms — very quickly gathered the necessary votes. About how widespread it is and how it affects a part of society. I tasked the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Special Communications, the Ministry of Digital and the Secretary of the National Security Council to gather all the analytics on this issue for me and propose a solution next week," the president said in his evening address.

The author of the petition is Pavlo Petrychenko, a soldier of the 59th brigade. He proposes to ban the following:

• access to online casinos for military personnel;
• advertising of gambling games using the symbols of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in general symbols of war or the army, as well as advertising or public references to how casinos give aid to the military;
• cooperation of charitable funds with participants of the gaming market;
• to accept property in the form of charitable assistance from the casino or individuals or legal entities related to it for military units;
• pawnshops accept drones, thermal imagers and other dual purpose goods.

At the same time, the author demands that Internet providers and mobile operators block the sites of illegal casinos.

Pavlo Petrychenko argues for this by the fact that there are rare cases when military men addicted to games spend all their money on casinos and then take microloans, driving themselves into a debt pit. They also pawn drones and thermal imagers, which harms not only them, but also their fellow citizens.

• In 2023, Ukrainians spent almost 400 million hryvnias in online casinos every day, or more than 12 billion a month, as reported by "Economichna Pravda" with reference to the National Bank. This industry most often affects military personnel, who then suffer from gambling addiction.
• After this publication, a lively discussion of the gambling problem began in society, in particular, among the military. This topic was also raised by the author of the petition, Petrychenko.