Ukrainian gambling regulator suspends two state lotteries

KRAIL has suspended both an instant win lottery and a numerical draw.

Ukraine.- The Ukrainian Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) has confirmed that it has suspended two state lotteries. The instant win lottery Catch the Moment and the numerical draw lottery Penalty have been suspended since the start of the month.

Penalty had been running since September 2018. The Ukrainian lottery newspaper Zigzag Udachy and the Ukrainian National Lottery website published the news but did not give any reason for the suspension. The lotteries reportedly stopped taking bets at midnight on March 24.

The Ukrainian gambling regulator has previously cancelled the licences of operators that were linked to Russian interests. As many as 287 businesses and 120 individuals have reportedly been sanctioned, including Betcity, Bet.ru, First International Bookmaking Company, Sportloto, Sportbet and Matchbet.

The companies’ assets were to be frozen and trade operations will be prohibited, including the withdrawal of funds from Ukraine. The sanctions list includes people from the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Turkey, the Netherlands, Poland, and Armenia as well as the Russian Federation. National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksiy Danilov is responsible for monitoring the implementation of sanctions.

Last month, the government of Ukraine took up KRAIL’s proposals to change the process of the suspension and cancellation of gambling licences. It included proposals in its 2023 action plan that include a definition of the procedures for the suspension of gambling operators’ licences while martial law is in force and the steps to be followed for such measures to be reviewed after martial law ends.