Zona de Azar Ukraine – Ukraine: The Final Regulation Will Shape the Success of the New Industry

Ukraine.- November 20th 2019 www.zonadeazar.com A briefing document drafted by Parimatch reports on the latest status of legalization of the betting industry in Ukraine, where President Zelenskiy has pledged to create a regulated open betting industry as part of his economic liberalization agenda.

The final regulation that is passed through parliament will invariably shape the success and fairness of the new industry. It will also give a clear indication of the will and ability of the new government to properly reform the economy. The update details some commonalities & divergence between the alternative legislative proposals.

Overview

• There are now seven draft laws on gambling legalization in the Ukrainian parliament, which are alternative versions to the draft law initially submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers.
• Only five drafts have been made available to the public – which put forward conflicting positions on many key issues.
• When analysing the different versions of the submitted legislative proposals, one can outline the commonalities and differences in the legislators’ approach on the legalization of gambling industry in Ukraine.
• The numerous conflicting points in different versions of the draft laws indicate the difficulties in agreeing a final law which would suit all interested parties.
• However, the number of proposed amendments to the draft law demonstrates the high level of interest in the legalization of the industry by the executive and legislative branches.

Commonalities between draft bills

• Comparisons between the different versions of the bills demonstrates a unity of opinion in supporting responsible gaming and preventing gaming addiction.
• Other commonalities between proposals include the need to regulate the industry by establishing a separate government agency, tax rates on turnover and income (already mainly stipulated by the current Tax Code), toughening the responsibility for the illegal organization of games, and in some bills, even measures to ensure law enforcement agencies take action in the battle against illegal gambling business.
• Divergence between draft bills
• The issues which differ significantly in the submitted alternative draft laws include restrictions on the number of gambling facilities and their location.
  Legislators also do not fully agree on the issue of the need for fiscalization through payment transaction registers and the taxation of gaming operators, which remains beyond the scope of the proposed bills. Opinion is also divided on the following issues:
• The number of licences to be issued
• The size of license payments
• The rigidity and conservatism of state regulation of the industry
• Customer identification (i.e. through passport or individual tax number)
• The need for a transition period for new legislation

There is also conflict on the definition of lottery. The basic draft law of the Cabinet of Ministers clearly identifies the lottery as a kind of gambling activity, while some alternative proposals put forward another approach which would exclude it from the gambling list or propose that only lottery is legalised. These can be seen in the draft laws No 2285-3, 2285-4 and 2285-5.

On the other hand, the alternative proposals, such as draft laws No 2285-1 and 2285-2, are distinguished by a less fiscalized and more liberal approach on the future market regulation.

Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com