Finally, Ukraine’s Main Legislative Body Gives The Go-Ahead For Gambling

Article by : Helen Jul 21, 2020

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On 14 July 2020, the Supreme Council of Ukraine, most often known as Verkhovna Rada voted for one of the primary laws that will regulate the market for ground-based and online casinos. After its approval, the gambling market in Ukraine will be monitored and controlled exclusively by state bodies. The law was developed and offered to the Rada by Deputy Oleg Marusyak.

After the law comes into force, the activity of casinos and betting shops (including on the Internet), slot machines, and online poker organizations will be allowed. The parliament classified casino gambling as roulette, card games (in particular poker), dice games, and games on slot machines.

According to the adopted law, online casinos, bookmakers, and land gambling houses will operate exclusively according to explicit legislative norms. Moreover, ground-based platforms will only be placed in hotels.

Before the law’s adoption, the Rada deputies had to agree on more than 100 different amendments within a few weeks before the bill’s approval. According to the official version of the law, the cost of a license to open an online casino is 1 million euros.

Also, casinos will be required to pay license fees every five years from the date of opening. In this case, the owners of bookmakers will have to pay more than 2 million euros. If a land-based casino is located in a hotel based in Kyiv, then the fixed fee will be more than 3.8 million euros.

The most essential nuances of the law

One of the main requirements of deputies in the preparation of the statement was an indication of limitations on the origin of capital and business ownership. In other words, the law should have contained a rule that the operators or suppliers of gaming equipment should not be contractors from the aggressor state. It goes without saying that it involves Russian enterprises whose access to the Ukrainian market is banned. The same goes for directors, chief accountants, and ultimate beneficiaries. However, content providers for video games or land-based slot machines were not subject to these restrictions.

As for the issue of advertising earlier, according to the legislation of Ukraine, casinos could not advertise their services on the Internet or use a network of affiliated partners. Nevertheless, in the new edition of the fundamental law, this rule was changed.

Perhaps the only by-laws that have not been adopted are tax rules for market operators. Currently, deputies have proposed 6 different bills that describe the taxation standards for gambling platforms. According to the draft law on taxation proposed by MP Marusyak, the government is recommended to establish the following tax rates:

• Bookmakers – 5%.
• Online casinos and lotteries – 10%.
• Ground-based casinos or slot machines – 12.5%.

However, alternative versions of the gambling tax laws offer interest rates that appear to be much higher.

Now, for the law to come into force, it must be signed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. It should be noted that earlier, the President of Ukraine took an apparent position and was an active supporter of the gambling market regulation. Back in October 2019, the president repeatedly spoke out in support of a government bill that would allow land-based casinos to be opened exclusively in five-star hotels.

After the bill was not passed the first time, the president said that if the gambling market is not ready to operate according to clear rules, it should be closed. This led to instant blocking of access to numerous gambling sites. What’s more, since 2009, all gambling operators were already officially banned and continued to run this business for years entirely illegally.

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