According to the recommendations of law enforcement officers, more than 2,500 websites were blocked in Ukraine, which provided gambling and hosted online casino resources without the appropriate license.
This was reported in the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.
As of April 2024, law enforcement officers are investigating more than 450 criminal offenses related to the illegal organization of gambling. 21 people were informed about the suspicion. Indictments against 72 people were sent to court, including seven against 68 members of criminal gangs.
In 2023, 169 offenses of this category were registered, and 74 people were notified of suspicion. 52 indictments against 97 people were sent to the court. More than 7,000 units of computer and other equipment were seized, about 500 searches and 700 reviews of addresses were conducted. Law enforcement officers managed to shut down ten casinos. Ten indictments against 42 members of criminal groups were sent to the court.
Proceedings have also been opened against a number of large companies involved in the organization and operation of illegal online casinos. In particular, an investigation into the legalization of 4.8 billion hryvnias of profits from illegal online gambling is ongoing.
In addition, a pre-trial investigation is ongoing regarding the sanctioned company, which, being under the control of structures and citizens of the Russian Federation, organized and conducted illegal bookmaking activities on the basis of the resources of an international bookmaker office.
The situation with the gaming business in Ukraine
In July 2020 , the Verkhovna Rada legalized the gambling business in Ukraine. The law legalizes the activities of casinos, bookmakers (in particular on the Internet), slot machine halls and the organization of online poker. The parliament included roulette, playing cards, dice and slot machines as casino gambling. In September 2020, the Parliament created the Gambling and Lottery Regulatory Commission (KRAIL) — this is a state regulator that deals with the licensing and regulation of gambling in Ukraine.
In 2023, Ukrainians spent almost 400 million hryvnias in online casinos every day, or more than 12 billion a month, as reported by Economic Truth with reference to the National Bank. This industry most often affects military personnel, who then suffer from gambling addiction.
After this publication, lively discussions of the problem with gambling began in society, in particular among the military. On March 29, an electronic petition appeared on the website of the Office of the President of Volodymyr Zelenskyi about restricting the operation of online casinos during martial law in Ukraine. In just a few hours , the petition gathered the 25,000 signatures required for its consideration by the president.
The author of the petition, a soldier of the 59th brigade, Pavlo Petrychenko, claimed 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.
On April 20, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree restricting the operation of online casinos.