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Ukraine’s new gambling regulator, PlayCity, has begun its work to remove any potential Russian-linked businesses, revoking several business-to-business (B2B) licences in a single day after they failed to provide enough evidence that they have no link to countries at war with Ukraine.
On July 21, Ukraine’s gambling regulator PlayCity announced the suspension of seven B2B licences for non-compliance in a single day.
All the decisions can be appealed within six months after their notification to the gambling supplier.
It follows changes to the Gambling Act passed by the Ukrainian parliament in December 2024, which took effect on April 1, requiring B2B licence holders to submit documents to the new regulator confirming compliance with the requirements of Article 14¹ of the Gambling Law, within 60 days from the date the amendments entered into force.
The B2B licences that were revoked failed to provide sufficient evidence that they had no connection with Russia or had no sanctioned individuals among their founders or shareholders, and no involvement or association with terrorist activities, according to Stanislava Yautodzyeva, the head of analytics at 4H Agency.
“This enforcement action reflects the Ukrainian government's zero-tolerance approach toward foreign influence from hostile states and non-transparent corporate structures. PlayCity has reiterated its intention to systematically remove “toxic” participants from the market in order to ensure that gambling in Ukraine remains transparent, controlled, and safe,” she told Vixio GamblingCompliance.
To remain compliant, Yautodzyeva suggests B2B providers pay attention to ownership, share structures, and “any connection, even indirect, to residents or entities from aggressor states, or jurisdictions failing FATF standards.”
“Ukrainian gambling businesses must maintain a proactive compliance strategy to anticipate and adapt to further regulatory tightening, since the regulator will now maintain regular screening of UBOs (ultimate beneficial owners) and significant shareholders against both national and international sanctions lists,” Yautodzyeva said.
Separately, there is some confusion over whether or not slot machine manufacturers currently require a B2B licence, with the matter remaining legally ambiguous.
“As a result, there is ongoing uncertainty among both market participants and regulatory authorities. Although further clarification may emerge as the regulatory system continues to evolve, there is currently no formal position from PlayCity on this matter,” according to Yautodzyeva.
The crackdown on B2B licences is one of several regulatory shifts happening in the country.
PlayCity has listed its top priorities as digitising the licensing process, launching an illegal gambling monitoring and blocking system, restarting the lottery market to receive licence fees, reintroducing the national self-exclusion scheme and removing any Russian-linked casinos.
On July 11, 2025, the Ministry of Digital Transformation submitted amendments for consultation aimed at bringing pieces of secondary legislation in line with the changes to the Gambling Act passed in December 2024.
These cover a range of resolutions covering the development of an online monitoring system, licence conditions for operators, licence conditions for service providers, sanctioning procedures, and criteria for assessing the degree of risk from organising gambling and determining the frequency of planned state supervision measures.
If approved in its current form, existing licence holders will have two months after it enters into force to comply with the updated regulations and to submit any additional documents required under the new framework, if they lack any of them.
