Ukraine’s government has cleared a major hurdle towards creating its new gambling regulator, PlayCity, which is replacing the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL), which was shut down following a national scandal.
“PlayCity, created to replace the inefficient KRAIL to regulate the gambling industry, has made one step closer to starting work. The government has approved the regulations on the activities of the state agency: how it will work and what it will do,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a press release issued on May 2.
Under the adopted regulations, PlayCity’s main tasks include, online monitoring, issuing licences, identifying and closing illegal casinos, issuing fines, supervising the state lotteries, protecting players' rights and mitigating risks of addiction, as well as maintaining a self-exclusion register.
“The next stage of launching PlayCity is approving the agency’s and its staff’s structure. After that, the head [of the new regulator] will form a team within the main areas. And PlayCity will officially start working when the government makes a decision to launch its work,” according to the statement.
Ukrainian authorities estimate they will collect up to 10bn Ukrainian hryvnia (€214m) in additional taxes each year, which will be used to finance the activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amid an ongoing war against Russia, according to the statement.
The ministry said the main reason behind PlayCity’s establishment is to make Ukraine’s gambling and lottery market transparent, controlled and legal.
Last year, the former head of KRAIL, Ivan Rudyi, was arrested on charges of supporting various Russian-owned gambling industry players, including a major online casino active in Ukraine. The resulting scandal saw lawmakers shut down KRAIL and begin work to create a new regulator to take its place.
In January this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed off on Bill 9256-D, which approved the closure of KRAIL and introduced several other changes to the country’s gambling and advertising regulatory framework, including banning most forms of gambling advertising.