The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has prohibited banks and non-bank financial institutions from accepting goods that can be used for military purposes as collateral for personal loans. For example, drones or thermal imagers.
The resolution will enter into force on May 4, 2024, NBU reports.
The ban was introduced to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated April 20, 2024, in order to "promote the security and stability of the banking system, prevent crisis phenomena during the introduction of martial law."
The limitation on the pledge applies to goods that are included in the Unified list of dual-use goods, approved by Cabinet Resolution No. 86 dated January 28, 2004.
The situation with the gaming business in Ukraine
In July 2020, the Verkhovna Rada legalized the gambling business in Ukraine. This is about 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 (GLRC) — 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 (ET) with reference to the National Bank. Often, military personnel suffering from gambling addiction became hostages of these games, as they lost their money and borrowed money there. Some of the fighters committed suicide due to the inability to settle debts.
After the material of ET, lively discussions of the problem with gambling began in society. On March 29, an electronic petition appeared on the website of the Office of the President of Volodymyr Zelensky 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 Pavlo Petrychenko a soldier of the 59th brigade, claimed that there are rare cases when soldiers 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 Zelensky signed a decree restricting the operation of online casinos.