Gambling Commission is gone: how the industry will be controlled now
25 March 18:03
On March 25, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to liquidate the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL). This was reported by the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
“It was decided to liquidate the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries. It has been established that the successor to the property, rights and obligations of the Commission is the State Agency PlayCity,”
– melnychuk wrote on social media.
He added that the government has made all the necessary changes to the regulations related to the liquidation of KRAIL.
How the government is rebuilding the gambling industry
Strengthening control over the gambling market
The first step of the current strategy to change the gambling sector in Ukraine is the law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Combat Gambling Addiction (Ludomania) and Improve State Regulation of Activities Related to the Organization and Conduct of Gambling and Lotteries,” which is due to enter into force on April 1 this year. This document, among other things, provides for the liquidation of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) and introduces many restrictions on activities in this area.
One of the steps envisaged by the document was the introduction of mechanisms to block access to illegal gambling websites and apps. Although the law has not yet entered into force, this mechanism seems to be already being used.
Читайте нас у Telegram: головні новини коротко
In 2024 alone, the Ministry of Digital Transformation blocked
- 92 apps in the AppStore,
- 26 apps in the Play Market.
Another 4,460 online casino sites were removed by order of the State Service of Special Communications.
Transfer of the industry to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Digital Transformation
The activities of the Ministry of Digital Transformation to block websites and applications seem to have impressed the government: in February this year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to transfer the functions of organizing and conducting gambling and lotteries to the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
Revenue growth
At the same time, the government reports that the country is de-shadowing the gambling business, which has resulted in a record increase in tax revenues.
Thus, in early January of this year, Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, cited the following figures: UAH 204.8 million was paid in taxes in 2021, UAH 730.9 million in 2022, and as much as UAH 17 billion for the entire year of 2024.
Liquidation of CRAIL and creation of PlayCities
The law also stipulates that starting from April 1, 2025, a new authorized body will be created instead of KRAIL and a ministry will be designated responsible for the development of gambling and lottery policy.
This has already been done. KRAIL no longer exists, and a few days earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to create a new central executive body – the State Agency of Ukraine “PlayCity”.
The newly created agency will be in charge of full control over the gambling and lottery sector in Ukraine. The main tasks are to ensure transparency, fairness, efficiency, and digitalization of the regulatory process. This includes automating the issuance of licenses, creating an open register of operators, and introducing mechanisms that will allow the state to receive real tax revenues from the market.
The agency will be accountable to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and will be coordinated through the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. This shows that PlayCity is planned to be built as a digital, technological body.
In 2025, the agency will operate within the funding provided for the liquidated CRAIL, and the staff will include 61 employees.
The launch of PlayCity is part of the government’s broader strategy to de-shadow the gambling business. It is expected that the new structure will allow for better detection and blocking of illegal operators, introduction of strict control over compliance with market rules, and increased tax discipline. It is also important that the agency’s digital mechanisms should ensure full traceability of financial flows, which will become a barrier to corruption and abuse.
The main tasks of the new institution are
- regulation of the gambling market;
- supervision of compliance with the law by operators;
- introduction of modern digital tools to control the turnover of funds;
- establishing transparent rules of the market;
- protection of players’ rights and prevention of gambling addiction.
The agency is expected to gain more autonomy in personnel decisions, have a transparent mechanism for forming the management, and work closely with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the State Tax Service.
Risks and challenges
Despite the ambitious plans, challenges remain. These include resistance from old market players who are used to operating in the shadows, as well as the risk of political pressure on the new structure. It is important that PlayCity remains independent in its decision-making and acts exclusively in the interests of the state and society.
The Cabinet of Ministers hopes that the reboot of regulation will help to
- increase budget revenues (according to various estimates, up to UAH 10-15 billion per year)
- ensure fair and equal rules for all market players
- increase the responsibility of operators for violations;
- reduce the influence of the shadow sector, especially in the online segment;
- introduce more effective tools to combat ludomania (gambling addiction), including the creation of a register of persons with restricted access to gambling services.
If the government succeeds in implementing the announced reforms, it will be a step forward in the fight against shadow schemes, improve the investment climate in the industry, and turn gambling from a source of corruption into a source of budget revenues.
