Zelensky responds to petition to restrict online casinos: instructs SBU and NSDC
Kyiv • UNN
President Zelenskyy has instructed law enforcement agencies and ministries to analyze the problem of online gambling and propose solutions in response to a petition calling for restrictions on online casinos due to their harmful effects on soldiers and society.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to a petition calling for restrictions on online casinos. The head of state instructed the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the National Security and Defense Council to collect analytics and propose solutions. Zelensky said this in his evening address, UNN reports.
"Today, a petition on the topic of casinos - online gambling platforms - has quickly gathered the necessary votes. It's about how widespread it is and how it affects a part of society. I have instructed the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Special Communications Service, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council to collect all the analytics on this issue and propose a solution next week," Zelensky said.
Context
Recently, Pavlo Petrychenko, a junior sergeant with the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade , spoke about gambling addiction among military personnel.
Today, Petrychenko registered a petition calling for restrictions on online casinos.
"I, Pavlo Petrychenko, a soldier of the 59th Brigade, would like to draw your attention to the harm that gambling causes to the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian society. For three years now, soldiers have been away from their families, in stressful conditions and without the possibility of proper rest, so they are particularly psychologically vulnerable. For many of them, gambling becomes the only way to cope with stress, and therefore quickly causes dopamine addiction and weakens their self-control. It is not uncommon for gambling addicts to spend their entire allowance on gambling and take out microloans, thus putting themselves and their families in a "debt pit", or pawn drones and thermal imagers, thus harming not only themselves but also their fellow soldiers," the petition says.
The petition calls on the President to ban gambling advertising using the symbols of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and any symbols or objects related to war and the army; to ban charitable foundations from cooperating with gambling market participants; to ban military units from accepting property as charitable aid from gambling market participants or related individuals or legal entities; to ban any advertising or public mention of the fact that gambling market participants provide charitable aid to military personnel; to ban pawnshop
The petition received more than 25 thousand votes in one day.
Recall
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy supported a government draft law that proposes to liquidate the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries.
