New Ukrainian Gambling Regulations – Proposed Laws & Overview

Ukraine has been in a difficult spot since the beginning of the war, and this has understandably affected many of its industries. Having to manage everything with such a large issue at hand is understandably going to be difficult, and the gambling industry is no exception. In this blog post, you can learn about the new Ukrainian gambling regulations and the proposed law that will see KRAIL be replaced with a new authorised body.

You’ll find a detailed analysis of the Ukraine government’s proposal of dissolving the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL). We are going to see why the ministry has issued a draft law requiring a drastic change in the Ukranian gambling law.

KRAIL and the Ukranian Government

Ukraine’s Gambling Commission has a specific task of issuing licences for an online casino for Ukraine players. Licensing is an important task when introducing a new casino to the market, and this is one of the many tasks KRAIL is attended to do. However, the draft law the Ministry imposed is mainly in place due to the licence issuance not being handled in time. There is a reason for that.

As the current legislation stands, KRAIL operates as a collegial body of a chairman and six members. For a licence to be approved by the body, most of the members of the commission need to be present – and that’s where the issue occurs. We’ll find out more below.

Why the Ukranian Government Wants KRAIL Replaced?

There were no issues with KRAIL’s operations until the beginning of the war, when on the 24th of February 2022, the invasion of the Russian Federation forced the country to enter martial law. This resulted in a portion of KRAIL’s members going on military duties, thus leaving the commission. With a reduced number of members, the issuance of licences became more difficult, and they were delayed.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukranian deputy prime minister, has submitted the draft law to the country’s legislature with the suggestion to dissolve KRAIL and replace it with an executive body, as they think this will have a positive effect on the Ukranian gambling regulations.

Current State of Licence Issuing

The current situation is not looking good. With KRAIL’s members reduced, many of its beneficial duties are crippled, and that includes the issuing of licences for the casinos. Fedorov, who is not only the prime minister, but also Ukraine’s manager for digital transformation, thinks that the big delay in KRAIL’s licence issuing is hurting the gambling industry, resulting in loss of revenues.

They claim that “KRAIL’s format is imperfect and needs replacing”. This is understandable from one perspective, but is KRAIL really to blame here? The martial law reducing their numbers had them crippled without their control, and they need time to adapt. The ministry thinks it’s time for the dissolving of KRAIL and a change to an executive body for its operations.

The Government’s Proposition

Ukraine’s government is concerned about the state of licence issuing and KRAIL’s delayed operations and has a proposition with its draft law introduction. They believe that by transforming KRAIL to follow an executive structure, they’ll make a single individual responsible for Ukraine’s gambling rules and regulations. Another idea they have is to largely automate licence issuing. Here is how this helps:

They believe that by doing this, “automation will eliminate corruption schemes, and ensure stable revenues to the budget from market players”. It is believed “licensing to be one of the most corrupt processes in gambling, and that KRAIL is to blame”. With these changes and the introduction of the draft law, the government hopes to achieve a better structure and management of the gambling industry.

KRAIL’s Response

The gambling regulator KRAIL didn’t take the government’s proposition lightly and introduced some fair points in their defence. Ivan Rudy, KRAIL’s chairman, stated that the regulator did not know about this draft law until it was submitted to the legislation – a process that shouldn’t go this way.

Ivan Rudy thinks that this change is unnecessary and that the changes the government is proposing to the gambling regulator are already in operation. Rudy acknowledged that their team has indeed had a lack of members due to the martial law introduced in the country but countered that with the fact that they did request more members to be added to KRAIL, something that was not taken into consideration.

Rudy thinks that they don’t receive that many licence requests – 36 licenses for three years is something that he thinks their team can manage. Automation and change of operation for something with a finite small numerical significance are needless, according to Ivan Rudy.

Frequently Asked Questions

In the section below, you’ll find quick answers to the segments discussed in the blog. We covered a lot, and many questions come to light regarding the Ukraine government’s draft law. The most common inquiries are below, and you can click on the links that will take you to the relevant section of the blog post.