PlayCity is being prepared for launch — the government has defined its tasks
- Author:
- Liza Brovko
- Date:
The government has approved regulations on the work of PlayCity, a new state agency that will regulate gambling in Ukraine instead of the liquidated Gambling and Lottery Regulatory Commission (CRGL).
This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Digital Transformation (under whose coordination PlayCity operates).
Here are the main tasks of PlayCity:
- control over the gambling market through online monitoring;
- transparent licensing;
- detection and closure of illegal casinos;
- fines to companies for violating license conditions;
- supervision of state lotteries;
- protecting playersʼ rights and reducing the risks of gambling addiction;
- maintaining registers, publishing open data and annual reporting on the agencyʼs work.
The next step in launching PlayCity is to approve the agencyʼs structure and staff. After that, the head will select a team in key areas. The official start of work will take place after the relevant decision of the Cabinet of Ministers. The Ministry of Digital Affairs expects that thanks to these measures, the state will receive an additional 10 billion hryvnia in taxes.
In early April 2025, the government appointed Hennadii Novikov as the head of PlayCity.
The situation with the gambling business in Ukraine
In July 2020, the Verkhovna Rada legalized gambling in Ukraine. The law legalizes the activities of casinos, bookmakers, including online, slot machine halls, and the organization of online poker. The parliament included roulette, card games, dice, and slot machines as casino gambling. In September 2020, the parliament created the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) — a state regulator that is responsible for licensing and regulating the gambling sector in Ukraine.
In 2023, Ukrainians spent almost 400 million hryvnias daily in online casinos, or over 12 billion per month, as Economic Truth reported with reference to the National Bank. The military is most often hit by this industry, who then suffer from gambling addiction.
After this publication, lively discussions began in society about the problem of gambling, in particular among the military. An electronic petition appeared to restrict the operation of online casinos during martial law in Ukraine, which gathered the necessary votes for its consideration in a few hours.
On April 20, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree restricting the operation of online casinos. In May of the same year, the Cabinet of Ministers completely banned the advertising of gambling.
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