Will the risk of "invisible" casino advertising in the media increase? We asked the Ministry of Digital Economy 5 questions about the work of the new gambling regulator PlayCity. Here's what they answered

The Law of Ukraine No. 4116-ИХ of December 4, 2024 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine in Order to Combat Gambling Addiction (Gambling Addiction) and Improve State Regulation of Activities Related to the Organization and Conduct of Gambling and Lotteries» amended the Law of Ukraine «On State Regulation of Activities Related to the Organization and Conduct of Gambling». The Parliament, as the only legislative body that, in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, can adopt Laws, decided to liquidate the KRAIL as a collegial body and create a body operating on the principle of single leadership instead.

The same Law divides the powers of state regulation of activities in the field of organizing and conducting gambling between the central executive body that ensures the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling and the lottery sector, and the central executive body that implements state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling and the lottery sector, and also instructs the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by April 1, 2025: to determine the central executive body that ensures the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling and the lottery sector; to establish a central executive body that implements state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling and the lottery sector.

In order to fulfill these requirements, by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 21, 2025 No. 314 «On the central executive body implementing state policy in the field of organization and conduct of gambling and the lottery sector», the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity was established as the central executive body implementing state policy in the field of organization and conduct of gambling and the lottery sector. Accordingly, the formation of state policy in this area was entrusted by the Government decision to the Ministry of Digital Economy.

The distribution of functions for the formation and implementation of state policy in a certain area between different state bodies allows for the elimination of conflicts of interest and, as a result, possible corruption risks when regulating the gambling business.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and PlayCity, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On Central Executive Bodies» in accordance with Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Part Two of Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine «On Central Executive Bodies», are guided in their activities by the Constitution of Ukraine, this and other laws of Ukraine, decrees of the President of Ukraine and resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, other acts of Ukrainian legislation.

When forming a policy in the field of gambling, the Ministry of Digital Affairs identified the digitalization of regulatory processes as one of its priorities, in particular, the implementation of the State System of Information and Communication Technologies (DSOM), the digitalization of license issuance processes, which, in our opinion, will also reduce the corruption risks of subjective decision-making.

In addition, the Law of Ukraine «On Prevention of Corruption» provides for public participation in measures to prevent corruption, and today, in order to prevent corruption offenses and ensure public control over the activities of PlayCity, an Anti-Corruption Expert Group was formed at the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity and its composition was approved by the order of PlayCity dated 08.08.2025 No. 55-OD.

In accordance with paragraph one of part five of Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Legal Regime of Martial Law», during the period of martial law, persons are appointed to civil service positions by the appointing entity without competitive selection, the mandatory nature of which is provided for by law, on the basis of a submitted application, a completed identity card of the established sample and documents confirming that such persons have Ukrainian citizenship, education and work experience in accordance with the requirements of the legislation established for the relevant positions, as well as if there are declarations in the Unified State Register of Persons Authorized to Perform State or Local Self-Government Functions, a declaration of a person authorized to perform state or local self-government functions for the past year.

In accordance with Part One of Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine «On Central Executive Bodies», the head of the central executive body is appointed to and dismissed from office by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Taking into account the requirements of Article 57 of the Law of Ukraine «On Prevention of Corruption» and the Procedure for conducting a special check on persons applying for positions that involve occupying a responsible or especially responsible position, and positions with an increased corruption risk, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 25, 2015 No. 171 (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure), as a candidate for the position, Novikov Gennady underwent a special check.

Verification of information about a candidate for a position during a special inspection is carried out by ten state bodies in accordance with paragraph 3 of the Procedure. The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption carried out a check regarding the presence in the Unified State Register of Persons Who Have Committed Corruption or Corruption-Related Offenses, information about the candidate for a position, as well as the reliability of the information specified by the candidate for a position in the declaration of a person authorized to perform state or local government functions for the past year. According to paragraph 9 of the Procedure, the body for the position to which the person applies, or the NADS in accordance with paragraph five of part two of Article 56 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Prevention of Corruption» on the basis of the information received, prepares a certificate on the results of the special inspection in the appropriate form.

Thus, Gennady Novikov passed all the necessary checks before his appointment and was appointed in accordance with the procedures provided for by current legislation. The Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 8, 2025 No. 309-r determined: to appoint Gennady Olehovych Novikov as the Head of the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity from the date of the start of his actual performance of official duties for a period of no more than 12 months from the date of termination or cancellation of martial law with remuneration in accordance with the legislation.

In accordance with paragraph six of part one of Article 22¹ of the Law of Ukraine «On Advertising», advertising of gambling games on the Internet is permitted in online media registered in accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On Media» and intended for persons over 21 years of age. The law does not provide for restrictions on the prohibition of placing advertising of gambling games in online media intended for other groups of the population, except for persons under 21 years of age.

According to paragraph 36 of part one of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine «On Media», online media are media that regularly disseminate information in text, audio, audiovisual or other form in electronic (digital) form using the Internet on its own website, except for media that are classified by this Law as audiovisual media.

Requirements for online media entities are defined in Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine «On Media», which states that: «for the purposes of this Law, an online media entity is a person who exercises editorial control over the creation or selection, organization and dissemination of mass information in the form of online media.» In accordance with Part Three of Article 63 of the Law, online media entities may register voluntarily in accordance with the requirements of this Law.

In subparagraph G, paragraph 3, part five, Article 63 of the Law, for the registration of online media, the applicant submits an application in the form established by the National Council, which indicates the following information: name of the online media; type of online media; domain names under which the media is available on the Internet, indicating the registrants of the relevant domain names (for individuals — surname, first name and (if available) patronymic, citizenship, information about the place of residence or place of stay, for legal entities — identification data).

Since the law does not provide for requirements to indicate the age limit of the audience when registering online media, the online media entity independently determines the method of indicating information about the age limit of the media to comply with the requirements of the Law; otherwise, the entity does not have any evidence to support such requirements.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and PlayCity, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On Central Executive Bodies» in accordance with Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Part Two of Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine «On Central Executive Bodies», are guided in their activities by the Constitution of Ukraine, this and other laws of Ukraine, decrees of the President of Ukraine and resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, other acts of Ukrainian legislation.

Article 59 of the Law of Ukraine «On State Regulation of Activities Concerning the Organization and Conduct of Gambling» provides for financial liability for violation of the legislation on advertising in the sphere of gambling. Thus, according to the specified article: «Advertisers, advertising producers and/or advertising distributors for violation of the requirements established by law for advertising of gambling games, advertising of trademarks, other objects of intellectual property rights under which activities on the organization and conduct of gambling games are carried out, as well as other designations under which gambling games are conducted, shall be subject to a fine in the amount of 600 minimum wages. Advertisers, advertising producers and/or advertising distributors for failure to submit, untimely submission or submission of knowingly inaccurate information provided for in Part Two of Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine „On Advertising“ shall be subject to a fine in the amount of 3 minimum wages at the request of the Authorized Body. Financial sanctions (fines) provided for in this Article shall be applied by decision of the Authorized Body in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 58 of this Law.»

Regarding the development of draft amendments to the current legislation, we note that amendments to the legislation on advertising in the sphere of gambling, in particular with the aim of introducing a gradation of fines, are not currently planned, since the Ministry of Digital Economy and PlayCity have other priority tasks in regulating the sphere. At the same time, the initiation of such changes in the future is not ruled out, if this is appropriate for improving regulatory mechanisms.

Also, the Ministry of Digital Affairs and PlayCity will participate, within the limits and in the manner determined by the Law of Ukraine «On the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine», in the processing of draft laws registered by other subjects of the right of legislative initiative, if they are submitted to the Parliament.

According to Article 2 of the Law of Ukraine «On Advertising», this Law regulates relations related to the production, distribution and consumption of advertising on the territory of Ukraine.

This Law does not apply to relations related to the dissemination of information, the mandatory placement and publication of which is determined by other laws of Ukraine.

At the same time, the Law of Ukraine «On State Regulation of Activities Concerning the Organization and Conduct of Gambling» in Part One of Article 11 obliges the Authorized Body (PlayCity) to ensure the openness of its activities; Part Two of this Article provides that the Authorized Body shall inform the public about the results of its work, publish in the media, in particular in printed publications, and publish on its official website regulatory legal acts, information provided for by law, and other information on its activities.

Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine «On Information» stipulates that one of the main directions of state information policy is to ensure openness and transparency of the activities of government entities. Part one of Article 6 of this Law indicates that it is the duty of government entities to inform the public and the media about their activities and decisions made.

Therefore, for the purpose of informing about the results of its activities, PlayCity may indicate information about gambling organizers and decisions made regarding them.

Instead, Article 22-1 of the Law of Ukraine «On Advertising» establishes a list of restrictions on direct advertising of gambling. It is also established that the requirements stipulated by this article for advertising of gambling also apply to any information messages about the implementation of charitable activities by gambling organizers, their affiliates or any other persons using the brand of the gambling organizer, indicating gambling organizers or their brands as sponsors, partners of a certain activity or event in advertising materials of other customers.

That is, materials containing mention of the brands of gambling organizers in the context of their implementation or with their participation in charitable activities, indication of gambling organizers or their brands as sponsors, partners of a certain activity or event in advertising materials of other customers must be distributed taking into account the requirements for gambling advertising.