Tax Committee proposes to Rada to liquidate Gambling Commission

The Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy of the Verkhovna Rada has developed a revised bill on the liquidation of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries.

A Member of Parliament from the Servant of the People faction, the head of the committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, announced this on his Telegram channel, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Bill No. 9256-d, finalized by the Committee, should contribute to the solution of the problem of worsening the spread of gaming addiction during martial law, in particular, among military personnel who are in extreme stressful conditions, which may cause increased risks of the formation of gaming addiction, and therefore require additional mechanisms for protection," he wrote.

According to him, the revised bill proposes a system of changes aimed at strengthening requirements for gambling organizers, as well as limiting the negative impact of gambling on society, in particular:

• it is envisaged to strengthen the requirements for the advertising of gambling games (including the prohibition of advertising on the Internet, the prohibition of speculation on the topic of war and volunteerism, as well as the limitation of the possibility of abuse of sponsorship to cover advertising, etc.), and it is also proposed to increase the fines for violations in this area ( from 300 to 600 minimum wages), including a repeated violation is provided as a new basis for canceling the license of the gambling organizer;
• the procedure and consequences of actual inspections (including by the method of control purchases) are specified and detailed;
• a system of measures to prevent and counteract the operation of prohibited gambling games and/or gambling establishments is being introduced, including by monitoring the Internet to identify websites and/or mobile applications that provide access to online gambling on the territory of Ukraine without an appropriate license including clear response mechanisms to block access);
• establishment of additional criteria for cancellation of licenses, improvement of requirements for impeccable business reputation of officials of gambling organizers, establishment of requirements for providers of services in the field of gambling;
• in order to prevent and overcome gaming addiction, it is assumed that the requirements for combating severe gaming addiction (ludomania) will be established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. In addition, for the period of martial law, a new basis is introduced for inclusion in the Register of persons who are restricted from access to gambling establishments and/or participation in gambling;
• in order to increase the good faith of gambling organizers in ensuring the impossibility of access to gambling to persons who are included in the Register of persons who are restricted from access to gambling establishments and/or participation in gambling, a compensation mechanism is introduced in favor of the player who was not prevented by the organizer from participating in gambling despite self-limitations declared by the player - such a step will encourage players to check the organizers and report violations;
• it is proposed to introduce the impossibility of using more than one account by a player to make all calculations with the organizer of gambling games, which will allow in the future to effectively respond to the behavior of a player with signs of gambling addiction;
• to increase the transparency of the licensing procedure, it is assumed that the application for obtaining a license together with the documents attached to it can be submitted in electronic form by means of the Unified state web portal of electronic services in the manner determined by the Cabinet of Ministers.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reacting to the petition regarding the limitation of online casinos, instructed to propose a solution to the problem next week.

An electronic petition to Zelenskyy about restricting the operation of online casinos, which was registered on March 29, received more than 26,000 votes on the first day, although 25,000 votes are needed to consider petitions. Its initiator is Pavlo Petrychenko, a serviceman of the 59th brigade.

The author notes that military personnel in stressful conditions and without the possibility of adequate rest are particularly psychologically vulnerable, for many of them gambling becomes the only way to cope with stress, and therefore quickly causes addiction and weakens their self-control.

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