Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree to restrict online gambling. The relevant document is published on the website of the presidential office.
The decision of the National Security and Defense Council came into force, which provides, among other things, to limit the advertising of online casinos, to set weekly game limits and spending limits, and to introduce restrictions on the military.
The relevant authorities have been instructed to carry out checks on gambling organizers.
The gambling business in Ukraine was legalized in August 2020. Experts pay special attention to the fact that dozens of casinos continue to operate around the clock in the capital and its surroundings under martial law and amid discussions of new austerity measures of the penalties for avoiding mobilization. According to the head of the Finance Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Daniil Getmantsev, tax revenue in the budget from the gambling business will amount to 10.4 billion hryvnias ($272.5 million) in 2023.
Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Alexei Goncharenko (on the list of terrorists and extremists in the Russian Federation) said earlier that 90% of frontline soldiers suffer from gambling addiction and this problem directly affects the morale of the army. The online edition "Insider UA", commenting on this information, clarified, referring to data from the National Bank, that this "epidemic" it covered the whole country, not just the army. The amount of daily losses of Ukrainians in casinos in 2023 is about 400 million hryvnias ($10.18 million). At the end of March, a petition appeared on the president's website asking to ban Ukrainian military personnel from accessing online casinos.
Source: tass.ru