The new Ukrainian government that was sworn in after the recent elections has expressed willingness to rework the country’s gambling laws. The newly proposed bill has…
…raised a few eyebrows among experts who are wondering whether this piece of legislation leaves too much wiggle room for illegal activities.
Who the New Bill Will Benefit Most:
Following decades of a complete gambling ban, the experts from Ukraine are wary of the newly proposed bill. Former AMCU member, Agia Zagrebelskaya, and journalist, Yuri Nikolov, have…
…both expressed their concern regarding the new bill. Namely, they are not convinced that the new bill will achieve everything claimed by the lawmakers.
With countries such as the Netherlands slowly opening up to online gambling, Ukrainian legislators are looking to reap the same benefits such a move could bring.
Limitations:
The most contentious part of the bill is the provision that states that the use of slots will only be limited to hotels. Nikolov feels that this needs to be defined more closely as the current state of the bill leaves too much up for speculation.
“The bill provides that slot machines should go to hotels. It’s super, actually. Yes, of course, there will be questions – what can be called a hotel?”Nikolov argues, “In any case, there are fewer hotels in Kyiv than slot machine halls today. Limiting gambling to hotels only is good in principle, but bookmakers are officially allowed to create 320 bet points in Kyiv. That is, bookmakers are allowed to get minimum 300 points. I try to just understand how we are going to remove gambling from streets? And I don’t see,”
On the other hand, Agia Zagrebelskaya is strongly opposed to the introduction of casinos and slot machines in general.
“The danger is casinos and slot machines. Everything else: lottery and betting is absolutely normal gambling. But what we mean by bookmakers. Bookmaking is betting on sports. If we talk about betting on virtual events, in my opinion, this has little to do with bookmaking. What is the problem today? I’m saying this to everyone that if such a model is introduced by the state now, it will allow casino gambling masked as a betting activity,”Agia Zagrebelskaya said.
Such a critical take on the new bill leaves very little hope for those expecting to see a regulated online gambling space. Online casino operators will have to wait for better times in order to resume their operation in this country.
A Decade of Prohibition:
Ukraine has banned all forms of gambling back in 2009, thus effectively closing down all brick and mortar casinos…
…in this country. Online operators have found a loophole that would allow them to service players from this country, yet that loophole was rendered obsolete by the 2011 amendment of the ban.
The current administration led by President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is looking into bringing back gambling in a limited form. With a frozen conflict in the East, Ukraine’s economy is under heavy strain. The argument for…
…regulated gambling is that it might help relieve the pressure on the economy and improve the hospitality industry as well as boost tourism.
Source: Narayan, Niji. “Ukrainian Experts Analyse New Gambling Bill” https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2019/10/21/56862/ukrainian-experts-analyse-new-gambling-bill/. European Gaming. October 21, 2019.
