The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted additional regulations for the gambling business. In particular, it prohibited the use of military symbols in the advertising of gambling games, and also obliged the organizers to introduce limits on funds and time for players.
This was reported by the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk.
The Cabinet of Ministers adopted an additional regulation to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated April 20, 2024 "On counteracting the negative consequences of the operation of online gambling", implemented by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 234.
Restrictions are introduced before the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts to Combat Gambling Addiction (Ludomania) and Improvement of State Regulation of Activities Regarding the Organization and Conduct of Gambling Games and Lotteries.
The decision of the Cabinet of Ministers provides for the restriction of gambling advertising, trademarks and any other designations under which gambling is conducted, in particular with the use of electronic communications, the symbols of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, as well as the distribution of relevant contextual material.
In addition, the government prohibited the organizers of gambling games on the Internet from registering multiple client accounts for one player.
Also, the Cabinet of Ministers obliged the organizers of gambling games on the Internet to introduce mandatory breaks for each player.
In addition, the organizers of online gambling games will have to require players after registration or before accepting a bet to set a limit of funds that the player wants to spend on gambling during a certain time (day, week, month) and set the chosen limit for him. You can change the limit no more than once a month.
Also, players will be required to set a time limit for their continuous participation in gambling during the day and a limit for playing time during the week.
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 machines 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 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 Zelensky about the restriction of the operation of online casinos during the 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 Zelensky signed a decree restricting the operation of online casinos.
- At the end of April, the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office reported that more than 2 500 websites were blocked in Ukraine, which provided gambling and hosted online casino resources without a corresponding license.