Ukrainian gambling market gaining momentum
The doors of the Ukrainian market open for online operators with further licences being issued
Article written by Artem Kuzmenko, Partner of Eterna Law, Head of the Gambling Committee of the Ukrainian Advocates Association and Denis Dzyubenko, Advisory Board Member to the Commission of Regulation of Gambling and Lottery Business in Ukraine.
The Regulation Commission of Gambling and Lotteries (hereinafter – the Commission) on the 2nd of February 2021, decided to issue the first gambling licence, and on the 10th of February 2021, a decision has been made to issue two more licences. The decision was made under licence 43363902 for ‘PARIMATCH’ and under licence 43397203 for ‘GAMEDEV’.
It should be noted that all 3 licences were issued for online business, which confirms that the Commission is ready to work with such operators and indicates that the doors of the Ukrainian market are open for online operators.
There is also A significant progress for land-based gambling, since on the 2nd of February 2021, the Commission decided to issue 6 permits for hotels for the placement of gambling establishments, these permits are required to be submitted in the package of documents for licences for any land-based type of gambling. Therefore, in the near future, we can expect the filing of documents for obtaining a licence for a land-based casino and slot machine halls.
However, currently the land-based business has not been able to fully launch yet, since this requires the adoption of two decisions:
The decision on the list of gaming equipment that is subject to certification adopted by the Commission on February 05, 2021, which stipulates that the following gaming equipment is subject to certification, has not come into legal force: 1) slot machines; 2) gaming tables, including roulette 3) organizer’s online system of gambling 4) shuffle machines.
no decision has been made to approve the list of certification entities that can certify gaming equipment.
After the adoption and entry into force of these acts, the operators of casinos and slot machine halls will be unlocked the possibility of obtaining licences for gaming equipment, which will allow launching the land-based segment of gambling. We expect that all documents can be accepted by the end of February.
In conclusion, we would like to note that, of course, the market is already gaining momentum and soon the Commission will issue new licences, however, in order to fully launch and fill with a sufficient number of operators, it is necessary to adopt changes in tax legislation regarding the taxation of gambling, and with the right approach to this issue the potential of the Ukrainian market will be very large, and the market itself will be attractive for operators.
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