According to the Google Trends service, which analyzes the popularity of queries in Google Search, terms related to betting, casinos, and online gambling increased sharply in Ukraine in late summer 2025.
According to the Google Trends service, which analyzes the popularity of queries in Google Search, terms related to betting, casinos, and online gambling increased sharply in Ukraine in late summer 2025.
This is noted by the publication «Economic Truth», which notes that the current surge significantly exceeds last year’s popularity of queries about gambling, when the problem of gaming addiction among the military became public.
Currently, according to Google Trends, the popularity of the search query «casino» in Ukraine has a popularity index of 75 over the past five years and could potentially reach 100.
Economic Truth indicates that the greatest interest in inquiries about gambling over the past three months has been recorded in the Kyiv region and eastern Ukraine (Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Sumy regions). These regions are home to many military units, permanent deployment points, training grounds, hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
«The significant presence of military personnel in these regions suggests that the new boom in online gambling is also related to them. In addition to military personnel, another vulnerable category is at risk: internally displaced persons, most of whom, according to monitoring data from the International Organization for Migration, are in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions», — the publication’s analysts note.
In January 2025, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed bill No. 9256-d, which provides for the liquidation of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAL) and a ban on the participation of the military and military themes in gambling business advertising.
That same month, Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee Yaroslav Zheleznyak spoke about the increase in tax revenues from the gambling business in 2024. He also named the amounts that Ukrainian citizens spent to replenish their gambling accounts — in December, about UAH 20 billion was invested in «gambling».
Recall that on August 8, the state agency for control of gambling and lottery business PlayCity decided to fine Dev Ukraine LLC (dev.ua) for violating the requirements of the legislation on advertising in the announcement of the fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. The amount of the fine is 600 minimum wages, or UAH 4.8 million.
«We do not believe that mentioning a brand in an information announcement is a violation of the Law «On Advertising». Yes, any website that mentions a casino brand can be held «liable,» noted dev.ua CEO Stas Yurasov.
