Олексій Дзюба Hot News 4 December 2024, 14:23

KRAIL is everything. What the new law on the regulation of gambling in Ukraine provides

The Verkhovna Rada adopted a draft law on strengthening control over the gaming market.

The Verkhovna Rada voted as a whole in favor of draft law No. 9256-d, which provides for the liquidation of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL), writes the head of the tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev.

The distribution of KRAIL powers will take place between the relevant ministry and the newly created body without collegial status.

Here are other provisions of the law:

— Prohibition of gambling advertising, except for a limited list of permitted methods, and prohibition of sponsorship, except for sports sponsorship;

— Modernization of the tools of state supervision of the gambling market — controlled gambling is introduced as a control tool to replace actual checks;

— Regarding the introduction of effective measures to combat gambling addiction, blocking illegal websites, strengthening requirements for organizers and supplementing the grounds for license cancellation, establishing a requirement for gambling organizers to make all cashless payments exclusively through banks, improving requirements for DSOM, etc.;

— Improvement of the legislation on state lotteries, in particular, establishment of requirements similar to those for organizers of gambling games regarding the structure of ownership, criteria of impeccable business reputation, grounds for license cancellation, brand requirements, as well as requirements for calculations when conducting state lotteries;

— Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of the Interests of Subjects of Submission of Reports and Other Documents During the Period of Martial Law or State of War" regarding the resumption of reporting by organizers of gambling games and operators of state lotteries, etc.

"The essence of the law is to reorganize KRAIL and remove the human factor from the licensing process. Next, digitize licenses so that they are issued automatically, according to clear criteria, and start implementing an online monitoring system," said Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

We will remind that the changes in the regulation of gambling began at the end of March after the post of sergeant of the 59th brigade, Pavlo Petrichenko. He wrote that there is a "gaming epidemic" in the Armed Forces and created a petition to limit the operation of online casinos.

After that, the head of KRAIL, Ivan Rudy, said that "in general, he did not notice that his passion for gambling in any way affected the soldier's performance of a combat mission."

The situation in the gambling market according to Ivan Rudy (April 2024):

The gambling market was banned from 2009 to 2020. Currently, the legal gambling market consists of 13 legal entities operating offline and 17 operating online.

The illegal gambling market consists of more than 600 sites (these are only those known to KRAIL and for which we, together with law enforcement officers, are working to block access on the territory of Ukraine).

KRAIL checks the organizers for compliance with the procedure of identification of players whose information has been added to the Register of persons with limited access to gambling establishments or participation in gambling.

According to the NBU, in 2023, Ukrainians spent about UAH 400 million in online casinos every day.