Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky signed the Gambling Act into law, making gambling officially legal in the country. With his signature now on the legislation, experts say that the country could now see new casinos appear in Ukraine by the end of 2020.
The bill, called 2285-D was sent to the President’s desk after it was successfully passed by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) with 248 to 95 votes at the second reading.
Under the provisions of the bill, retail casino operations will become legal in Ukraine but such gambling venues will be allowed only in case they are hosted in hotels. Furthermore, the new piece of legislation legalizes slot halls, bookmaking operations and online gambling services.
The last published version of the bill was approved by the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy for its second reading. Under the provisions of the new piece of gambling legislation, the license fee for casinos in Kyiv hotels amounts to UAH121.6 million, while in the rest of the country the fee is UAH70.8 million. Bookmakers that are willing to operate in Ukraine will have to pay UAH70.8 million to get a license, while online gambling operators will be required to pay UAH30.7 million, with their license being renewed every five years. The license fee for online poker is worth UAH23.7 million.
The aforementioned fees, however, are not final. All of them are expected to be tripled by the time the Online Monitoring System of Ukraine comes into effect, which is expected to happen within 30 months of the country’s gambling market legalization.
The Legislative Process That Brought Legal Gambling to Ukraine Was Not Easy
Bill 2285-D annulled a decision of the country’s Parliament made eleven years ago, when Ukrainian legislators decided to suspend almost all types of gambling. As a result of the decision, Ukrainian revenue suffered a huge void that other legal businesses in the country failed to fill in. Furthermore, the gambling ban also triggered some black-market gambling operations to start appearing in the country, with the local authorities having pretty much no way to stop them.
At the time when Zelensky was sworn as President in 2019, he made a promise to reverse the decision, saying he would insist on the creation of a regulated gaming industry in Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky had been willing to see gambling legalized in the country in 2019, but the legislative process faced some challenges than local lawmakers had probably imagined. As mentioned above, Ukrainian’s Verkhovna Rada finally passed the proposed piece of legislation in July 2020, with the President now being able to sign the legislation.
The legalization process was not an easy one, as the proponents of the legal gambling sector in the country faced significant opposition at first. Initially, lawmakers failed to reach agreements on key areas, including licensing, taxes, etc., but they eventually managed to reach a compromise and fast-track the proposed gambling bill earlier in 2020.
As a result of the legalization process, there would be eight regulated gambling services in Ukraine, including retail casino, online casino, retail sports betting, online sports betting, slot machine halls, online poker, lotteries and totalizator. According to preliminary expectations, the newly-regulated sectors will be able to generate around $166 million in gambling tax revenue and licensing fees in 2020 alone. Some experts have projected that the figure could double at the time when the coronavirus stops affecting the economy.
