dev.ua statement about pressure from the authorities. They want to destroy us

Playcity believes that violations were committed in the announcement of the event published on dev.ua — the fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. The announcement mentioned the GGBET brand, which became the official sponsor of the event. The announcement did not contain links to the GGBET website, calls to play, information about bets or any other forms of advertising. Only information about the sporting event, as well as information about the agreement between GGBET and Queensberry + Ready to Fight.

«We do not believe that mentioning a brand in an information announcement is a violation of the Law „On Advertising“. Thus, any website that mentions a casino brand can be held „liable“. This could be a job site (where, for example, vacancies are published with a mention of the brand),» says Stas Yurasov, CEO of dev.ua.

In addition, the announcement was not placed on dev.ua on a commercial basis. The editorial staff did not receive any remuneration for this placement (we provided Playcity with a statement from our accounts as confirmation). Moreover, Playcity itself, in the resolution of the act on fixing the violation, established that (point one) GGBET is not the customer of advertising on dev.ua (i.e., sanctions will not be applied to this company), and (point two) dev.ua is a distributor of advertising about GGbet (therefore, it is a violator).

«We see no logic in this conclusion at all. If advertising does not have a customer, it cannot be advertising a priori. Because a customer and monetary compensation are the de facto main features of advertising,» emphasizes Stas Yurasov.

Since the ban on gambling advertising in May 2024, by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, the editorial staff of dev.ua has frozen all advertising of legal Ukrainian casino platforms. «We conscientiously fulfilled our duty, and instead received a „gift“ from the state in the form of a blow to the will,» the publication’s CEO emphasizes.

Therefore, Dev Ukraine LLC will appeal Playcity’s decision in court. The deadline for appealing the agency’s decision is three months.

«We do not recognize this decision as legal! Personally, Playcity’s decision raises many questions for me. The same announcements were placed on dozens of other Ukrainian media. But it was dev.ua that decided to fine them for „violations“. This only causes me indignation — such a selective approach to regulation,» says Yurasov.

According to him, Playcity’s main claim was that at the time of publication of the announcement, Dev Ukraine LLC was not registered with the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting Media (at the time of the decision, we were already in the register). Therefore, it had no right to place such an announcement. And others allegedly had full rights.

«I see this as a blatant manipulation of the law. After all, the law that President Volodymyr Zelensky signed on April 1, 2025, on the contrary, provides for a PROHIBITION of advertising in online media. The only exception is media with an adult audience of 21+. The sites on which we saw the same announcement were obviously not sites with adult content. These were ordinary news, industry or socio-political sites that suddenly became publications for adults. But Playcity for some reason turns a blind eye to this. Why do you think?» says the manager of dev.ua.

Moreover, Dev Ukraine LLC asked Playcity for clarification: is there a criterion for defining online media with an audience of 21+ in Ukraine? The answer is that there is no such criterion in the law. Thus, anyone can become a 21+ media. You can add yourself to the National Council’s online media register and start advertising casinos on your website with impunity.

«We are also outraged by the size of the fine for posting the announcement. UAH 4.8 million is 5 times our monthly turnover. Let us remind you that we are a white media, we have 12 people on staff, we pay taxes without violations, and our salaries are paid on time.

«I believe that such fines are primarily aimed not at punishment as such, but at forcing the media to close down. This is very similar to hidden censorship. Our co-founder is an EU resident. We will contact the relevant bodies in Europe that deal with this issue, that ensure that independent media are not silenced,» says Stas Yurasov.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that Playcity is not a collegial body, as its predecessor, KRAIL, was. Playcity is a central executive body, where decisions are made not by a board of regulator members, as before, but solely by the chairman. Having in its hands such a whip as a fine of 4.8 million UAH, which can be applied at its own discretion to media of any size (there is no gradation of fines in the law), Playcity has gained a strong influence on the entire media industry of the country.

None of the arguments presented by Dev Ukraine were accepted by Playcity.

Below is the announcement for which we were punished.

PS In the main photo of the text — the dev.ua team from September 2023, Lviv