Questions raised over proposed transfer of Ukrainian gambling policy to Ministry of Finance
Lawmakers disagree over which ministry is best suited to oversee gambling regulation in Ukraine.
Ukraine.- A legislator has warned that shifting responsibility for Ukraine’s gambling regulation from the Ministry of Digital Transformation to the Ministry of Finance could create more problems than it solves. Nina Yuzhanina of the European Solidarity party has taken a stance against Draft Bill No. 15111-d being prepared by the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy.
The proposed legislation is linked to Ukraine’s commitments to theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF), which requires the government to track and report how digital revenues are taxed. However, Yuzhanina criticised committee chair Danylo Hetmantsev’s management of the process, noting that deputies submitted 3,529 amendments before the bill’s second reading.
Hetmantsev has been a vocal critic of the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s handling of gambling regulation, particularly its rollout of the new Ukrainian national gambling monitoring system. The platform, which provides real-time data to the gambling regulator PlayCity, began its first phase in April and is expected to be fully operational by year’s end, but Hetmantsev claims that delays could cost the treasury up to UAH 20bn (€385m) a year.
He argues that the Ministry of Finance is better suited to oversee gambling, which he describes as a vital part of Ukraine’s economy. However, Hetmantsev has faced accusations of a conflict of interest due to past links with the gambling industry. Local media have reported that he previously held shares in MSL, a lottery operator that in 2015 was accused of involvement in cross-border money laundering between Ukraine and Russia along with another operator Patriot.
Mykhailo Aksyonov, the Deputy Head of PlayCity’s Anti-Corruption Expert Group, has also warned against the proposed transfer of powers. Speaking to 24 Channel, he said: “Regardless of who initiated this amendment and what the motives are behind its appearance, the very idea of transferring powers now appears too great a risk.
“If we start moving policymaking from the Ministry of Digital Transformation to the Ministry of Finance, while simultaneously creating a new body to regulate the sphere, the launch of the state Online Monitoring System could be delayed by at least a year. And it is this system that’s the key tool for the transparency of gambling operators’ activities.”
Both MSL and PJSC Patriot won new lottery contracts earlier this year, although Patriot lost its licence in late March, just over a month after receiving it. The decision followed reports from the State Bureau of Investigation that the company’s ownership did not meet legal requirements.
