Ukrainian regulator reports €23.5m from licence fees for year to date

The Ukrainian regular has reported on its revenue for 2021 and the first 10 months of 2022.

Ukraine.- The Ukrainian Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) has reported that its revenue from licence fees in the 10 months to October reached UAH856.5m (€23.5m). The regulator’s cost to the state budget during that time was UAH79.7m, 9.3 per cent of its revenue.

For full-year 2021, KRAIL reported revenue of UAH1.58bn, with UAH125.5m spent on it (7.9 per cent of revenue). That means that for the whole period from January 2021 until the end of last month, fees surpassed expenses by 91.6 per cent, with revenue totalling UAH2.44bn.

The figures come towards the end of a year that has been marred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started in February. In October, the acting director of KRAIL, Olena Vodolashko, said that the “isolation of Russia in the gambling sphere” is the key priority for her commission.

In an interview with the news agency Ukrinform, Vodolashko detailed KRAIL’s work overseeing the newly regulated gambling industry during the ongoing war with Russia. She said KRAIL had made appeals to the international gaming community to cut business relationships with Russia and apply sanctions against Russian entities. She also described a focus on tackling Russian money laundering.

Early on during the conflict, the Gaming Industry for Ukraine campaign set out to raise funds for Choose Love’s Ukraine Crisis fund. It has raised more than £261,000 so far.

Kyiv-founded Parimatch Tech has assigned more than €500,000 to support people in Ukraine. It has also been working with the British charity organisation WeHelpUkrainians on the Ukraine Hospitals Appeal initiative. In March, Parimatch Tech withdrew its Betring LLC franchise from Russia and cut ties with the Russian esports team, Team Spirit.

France’s Française des Jeux corporate foundation has donated €200,000 to Libraries Without Borders and Together for Human Development to support their work in Ukraine, and Pragmatic Play has donated £100,000 to the British Red Cross’ Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

In August, the head of the Ukrainian Gambling Council, Anton Kuchukhidze, told SBCCIS.com that the regulator had resumed its regulatory duties although its resources had been impacted like those of all areas of government. 

Also during the year, the Gambling Supervisory Authority in Lithuania and KRAIL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The agreement will see them work together on certain aspects of the supervision of gambling and lottery.