Ukrainian law enforcement has shut down more than 900 gaming halls since late December, when the government moved to end illegal gambling in the country, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine reported on January 10.
Most forms of gambling are illegal in Ukraine, but thousands of illegal operators have opened under the guise of lottery offices. According to the Kyiv Post, last month parliament tried to pass legislation to regulate those businesses, but failed. After that, President Volodymyr Zelensky said all gaming halls must be shut down immediately.
“So, you don’t want to play by transparent rules?” he tweeted in December. “You don’t want to work in a civilized way and pay to the budget? Well, let’s do it another away. As of today, we immediately close down all the gaming halls.”
So far, Ukraine has begun more than 440 criminal proceedings against gambling halls owners and seized 11,600 slot machines and other equipment. Under a new regime, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said, most of the existing estimated 40,000 gaming halls would have to close;
operations would be restricted to three to five-star hotels in major cities; the number of casino licenses across the country would be limited to 20; the number of game machines in gambling outlets across the country would be limited to 40,000; and the total number of licenses would be set at 160. The number of bookmakers would be set at 800, and private lotteries would be banned completely.
According to a December Forbes article, operators of illegal outlets would face prison terms of three to five years.
Speaking to SBC News, Maksym Liashko, a partner at online betting firm Parimatch, said, “Most likely (this month) a new bill will be introduced, which will contain more restrictions, primarily on the number of licenses and other conditions for operating a gambling business in Ukraine. … The state clearly says that the industry will be legalized.
Liashko added that the adoption of international certifications and test laboratories “will greatly simplify business entry, timelines, and reduce corruption risks.
“An important step that we expect is the establishment of a regulatory body. Either on the basis of the Ministry of Finance or separately as part of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Unambiguously, all the draft bills have a provision that such a body will have to develop more detailed conditions for issuing a license.”
