Liquidation of territories and Prohibition of military personnel to appear in gambling ads: the Rada adopted a law
Kyiv • UNN
The Verkhovna Rada voted for the liquidation of Krail from April 1, 2025 and the creation of a new gambling regulator. The law tightens control over the gambling market and sets new fines for operators.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and in general a draft law that provides for the liquidation of the commission for the regulation of gambling and lotteries (Krail) from April 1, 2025, the creation of a new body, strengthening responsibility for gambling organizers, and banning gambling advertising. About it writes UNN with reference to the people's deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak and the card of the Bill No. 9256-D.
"Draft law No. 9256-D on strengthening control in the gambling market has been voted as a whole. Za-239, " Zheleznyak said.
According to the draft law, it provides for the liquidation of Krail, which currently conducts state regulation of activities in the field of organization and conduct of gambling, and the creation of "a central executive authority that ensures the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of organization and conduct of gambling and lottery, as well as an authorized body within the limits of their powers defined by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.
The functions of such an organ include:
- approval of normative legal acts on issues within its competence;
- generalization of the practice of applying legislation on the organization and conduct of gambling;
- development of draft laws and other regulatory legal acts in the field of organizing and conducting gambling;
- development and submission for approval to the Cabinet of Ministers of licensing conditions for conducting economic activities in the field of organizing and conducting gambling;
- approval of the list, forms and reporting procedure by gambling organizers;
- establishing the procedure for conducting inspections of gambling equipment;
- development and submission to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval of the procedure for functioning of the state online monitoring system;
- setting an algorithm for generating a unique Player ID;
- setting limits on the player's spending on gambling and the time of the player's participation in the gambling game;
- establishing the principles of responsible play.
The new body will also have to develop methodological recommendations on:
- setting the maximum time of continuous participation in gambling on the internet per day for one account (Player);
- introduction of mandatory game breaks;
- setting the maximum game time per week;
- setting a limit on the player's spending on the game for a certain time (day, week, month) with the possibility of changing this limit no more than once a month.
The body will issue licenses for the organization of gambling, determine the equipment that is subject to certification, maintain Registers of gambling business, consider complaints of players about the actions of gambling organizers, and in case of violations, take measures, apply to law enforcement agencies in case of detection of illegal activities for the organization and/or conduct of gambling, make decisions on restricting access to websites/mobile applications, monitor compliance with the requirements of gambling advertising, etc.
"Employees of the authorized body and their close persons may not be directly or indirectly owners of corporate rights of gambling organizers, manufacturers of gambling equipment, hold any position in the structural divisions of the gambling organizer or provider of services in the field of gambling, including on a voluntary basis," the document says.
State supervision of the gambling market is carried out in scheduled or unscheduled inspections. Scheduled inspections are carried out no more than once a year, but at least once every three years in accordance with annual plans.
Unscheduled inspections are carried out if there is at least one of the following Grounds:
- regarding the gambling organizer, a request or notification has been received about the violation of gambling legislation by the gambling organizer;
- for the purpose of verifying the implementation of orders to eliminate violations identified during a preliminary scheduled or unscheduled inspection;
- based on the results of the analysis of Information, documents, reports received from the gambling organizer, facts were revealed that may indicate non-compliance with the gambling legislation and/or providing false information, including in the documents submitted for obtaining a license;
- according to the results of monitoring the activities of gambling organizers using the state online monitoring system, facts were revealed that may indicate that the gambling organizer does not comply with the gambling legislation;
- in order to verify that the gambling organizer complies with the requirements for connecting gambling equipment to the state online monitoring system.
Unscheduled inspections are carried out without warning the gambling organizer. During an unscheduled audit, in order to confirm or refute the available information about violations of legal requirements, a controlled game may be held with the participation of officials of the new body.
The bill also provides for the creation of a state online monitoring system, which should provide:
- continuous round-the-clock real-time data transmission and reception, with the ability to process, record, accumulate and store information about each transaction for accepting a bet, returning a bet, paying out a win (prize), making a payment, other operations, the form of settlements during the organization and conduct of gambling games and the income of the gambling organizer;
- real-time control of the gambling organizer's income, including control of the total winning percentage of slot machines;
- integrity of information during its processing, accounting, accumulation and storage, authentication of the origin of information;
- monitoring the accuracy of information;
- confidentiality of players ' personal data;
- backup in automatic mode and restore information, preserve the integrity of databases in the event of a planned and/or emergency shutdown of the system;
- monitoring the actions of players and monitoring the compliance of gambling organizers with the principles of responsible gambling, as well as monitoring compliance with the requirements for combating severe gambling addiction.
In addition, the system must contain information about:
- each bet accepted in the gambling game;
- returned bids;
- payouts of gambling winnings;
- transfer of funds by the player to the gambling organizer;
- purchase by the player of game substitutes for the hryvnia;
- exchange of game substitutes for Hryvnia for funds;
- transfer of funds by the gambling organizer to the player's account, including in case of refund of bets or refund of funds deposited by the player to participate in gambling;
- unique Player ID.
The bill also sets requirements for gambling organizers, in particular, they should not allow people who have restricted access to gambling establishments, as well as persons under the age of 21, not allow the player to provide any bonus payments, gifts and/or goods (services), not allow players to create more than one personal account.
Organizers are prohibited from accepting bets on credit or with subsequent payment.
The document also establishes liability for violation of legal requirements for gambling organizers. In particular, failure to fulfill any of the obligations to minimize the negative impact of gambling entails the imposition of a fine of UAH 4 million. Failure to provide reports, as well as failure to provide documents, information, or providing false information at the request of the authorized body - a fine of UAH 1.2 million.
Failure to provide access to the online system of the gambling organizer during verification is a fine of 800 thousand hryvnias. Failure to comply in full and within the established time limit with violations or license conditions identified during the audit - a fine of 400 thousand hryvnias.
Making changes to gambling equipment without the developer's consent is a fine of UAH 8 million.
For identifying gambling equipment that is not documented, is not connected to the online system of the gambling organizer, for which there is no license, a fine of UAH 2.8 million to UAH 8 million is provided.
It is worth noting that fines are calculated up to the minimum wage, which from April 1 is set at 8 thousand hryvnias. That is, with the change in the minimum wage, fines will increase.
The transitional provisions to the draft law indicate that it should enter into force on April 1, 2025. Until then, the country is obliged to ensure the transfer of documents, reports, and so on to the central executive authority that implements state policy in the organization and conduct of gambling and lottery.
The Cabinet of ministers will have to liquidate the region by April 2025, as well as determine and form a body that will ensure the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling and lottery.
In addition, the law sets requirements for gambling advertising. Gambling advertising is prohibited, except for:
- ads on TV and radio from 23 hours to 6 hours;
- in specialized publications devoted to gambling and/or sports intended for persons over 21 years of age;
- directly in the premises of gambling establishments;
- on the websites of gambling organizers and/or in the mobile applications of gambling organizers.
Military personnel, volunteers, popular people, as well as the use of war-related topics, persons who have not reached the age of 21, and so on are prohibited from participating in advertising.
Sponsorship is prohibited, except for sponsorship in sports.
The draft law also establishes liability for advertisers, advertising producers and advertising distributors for violating the requirements for gambling advertising established by law. In particular, fines for such violations will range from UAH 24 thousand to UAH 4.8 million.
Addition
Gambling in Ukraine was banned in Ukraine from 2009 to 2020, but during this time, in fact, the gambling market worked "underground", which was illegal and did not bring funds to the state budget.
In 2009, due to the growing level of gambling addiction and the lack of proper regulation, gambling was banned, which led to the activation of illegal gambling establishments and bookmakers.
Gambling business in Ukraine was planned to be legalized at least three times, and in the summer of 2020, the Verkhovna Rada still succeeded.
On July 14, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the second reading and in general the draft law No. 2285-D on the legalization of gambling in Ukraine. On August 11, the law was signed by President Zelensky, and it came into force in August of the same year.
Legalizing gambling was one of the top priorities set by President Volodymyr Zelensky to the government and parliament back in September 2019.
In September 2020, the Cabinet of ministers formed the commission for the regulation of gambling and lotteries, which should license gambling organizers, monitor their activities, maintain appropriate registers and certify gambling equipment.
In fact, the gambling business started working only in February 2021, when Krail began issuing the first licenses for gambling operators. According to the law, you can arrange a casino on the territory of a country Entertainment Complex consisting of two or more buildings and structures, with a total area of at least 10 thousand square meters. m, with the mandatory presence of a five-star hotel, as well as on the territory of a special territorial gambling zone created by the decision of the Cabinet of ministers.
Currently, there are 10 casino gambling establishments attached to hotels in Ukraine.
Recall
In April, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law, which provides for the elimination of the commission for the regulation of gambling and lotteries (Krail) and strengthening control over gambling.
