The Ukrainian state agency for regulating gambling and lotteries PlayCity, is expanding cooperation with international digital platforms and has begun direct interaction with the streaming platform Kick to promptly block illegal gambling advertising on the Internet.
The Ukrainian state agency for regulating gambling and lotteries PlayCity, is expanding cooperation with international digital platforms and has begun direct interaction with the streaming platform Kick to promptly block illegal gambling advertising on the Internet.
This was reported by the PlayCity press service. It is noted that the first results of the partnership are already available: over the past week, the first two channels that broadcast illegal advertising materials were blocked on the Kick platform.
Now the agency has the ability to send lists of violators directly to the offices of the largest technology companies. In addition to Kick, PlayCity has already established direct communication channels with TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Twitch, Viber, and Google. This allows it to promptly initiate content checks and restrict access to illegal pages or broadcasts.
«This format of direct communication is the most effective tool for quickly stopping violations. This allows preventing users, especially young people, from being attracted to gambling through illegal advertising campaigns,» the agency comments.
Recently, users have become more active in complaining about illegal gambling promotion. In June 2026 alone, PlayCity received 19 complaints, most of which were submitted through a simplified online form on the agency’s website. As a result of these appeals, 37 accounts on TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and Kick were blocked. The total audience of these pages exceeded 895,000 subscribers.
In total, during the entire time the platform has been operating, the regulator has managed to restrict access to 785 public profiles on social networks and streaming platforms. Previously, a special complaint form was launched for this purpose, which has already processed 425 citizen appeals.
Blocking broadcasts is only the first stage of countermeasures, the agency assures. After that, PlayCity begins work on identifying the individuals behind the illegal campaigns. If the violator is identified, a financial sanction of almost UAH 5.2 million is imposed on him. In cases where the organizers of the advertising remain anonymous, law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation.
It was previously reported that the streaming platform Twitch, at the request of PlayCity, blocked the account of a user who was distributing illegal gambling advertisements during his broadcasts. The blocking occurred due to a request from viewers through a specialized monitoring tool.
