Tax and licensing revenues generated by the gambling industry undoubtedly cannot compete with the taxes and other payments contributed by more powerful sectors of the economy. Nevertheless, the sector generates billions in state budget revenues that can be used to finance various public needs, including defense expenditures. Recently, the government adopted a relevant decision and allocated UAH 10.8 billion generated by the gambling sector to military needs. The government's

Combating the illegal gambling sector has become one of the key priorities for all developed countries where gambling is legal. Regulatory measures typically focus on technical solutions such as blocking illegal websites and platforms, prohibiting unlawful advertising and strengthening player protection requirements. However, despite these efforts, illegal operators continue to function and thrive. As a result, regulatory initiatives are increasingly shifting toward monitorin

Recently, Gaming Compliance International published its report, GCI Online Gaming 2025: Global, on the global unregulated gambling market. According to the company’s estimates, the scale of the market is truly staggering, even by global economic standards, reaching an annual betting turnover of USD 5.9 trillion. This figure exceeds the combined budgets of many European countries and is surpassed only by the economies of the United States and China. Importantly, this includes

In professional discussions around gambling, artificial intelligence (AI) is often reduced to the role of a supporting tool, from customer support chatbots to marketing content generation and basic game recommendation systems. While important, this is merely an entry-level application that does little to fundamentally alter either a company’s cost structure or its resilience to growing regulatory and tax pressure. For markets such as Ukraine, where oversight is intensifying a

PlayCity continues to test innovative approaches aimed at addressing pressing issues in the gambling sector. This time, the regulator has introduced an interesting new approach to combating illegal gambling advertising. To support this effort, an online tool for submitting complaints has been created. Thanks to this tool, every concerned citizen can now join the fight against intrusive gambling advertisements. The introduction of an accessible and user-friendly complaint subm

The transfer of gambling market regulation to the Ministry of Digital Transformation has driven a number of trends in the industry. One of the most significant is the digitalization of interaction processes between the regulator, gambling operators, and players. In addition, such innovations help more effectively track player behavior and prevent the spread of gambling addiction. The Committee on Digital Transformation has finally presented a working version of the first phas

The new licensing rules introduced by the national regulator PlayCity are already demonstrating their effectiveness. In particular, there has been enhanced scrutiny of applications submitted by operators seeking licenses. Cooperation with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) and other law enforcement agencies in this area has already produced initial results. Recently, the license of one lottery operator was revoked due to the ultimate beneficial owner’s failure to meet l

Recently, the Ministry of Digital Transformation presented its plan for further reform of the gambling sector. It represents a comprehensive set of measures aimed at addressing key issues related to taxation, as well as the introduction of a Unified Register, which will serve as the foundation for the State Online Monitoring System (SOMS). All these changes are intended to simplify interaction between players, gambling operators, and the regulator PlayCity, and finally resolv

We all clearly understand that in any country the gambling market consists of both a legal and a shadow segment. How “comfortable” illegal operators feel depends on a balanced regulatory policy that gives legal businesses an advantage over the grey market. However, this only sounds good in theory. In practice, achieving this balance is far more difficult than it seems. Even well-developed gambling jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom suffer from the growing strength of il

The European gambling market continues to develop dynamically. While in Ukraine we are still at the stage of defining terminology in tax legislation and developing adequate approaches to advertising, in Europe discussions are already underway about the possibility of supranational regulation of the gambling sector. Today, proposals to unify gambling taxation across all EU countries and introduce common tax rates are being actively debated. Against this backdrop, a logical que

The Western gambling market is well established and demonstrates steady revenue growth. However, one of the key challenges of such markets is that once a certain threshold is reached, the growth rate slows significantly due to high levels of regulatory and tax burden. Another obstacle is the extremely high “barrier to entry” for new companies. In these markets, they are forced to compete with powerful gambling corporations that possess far greater financial and other resource

Currently, Ukrainian legislation imposes significant restrictions on gambling advertising. Legal gambling operators are forced to operate within a rigid framework in which, unfortunately, prohibitions far outweigh opportunities. This places them at a disadvantage compared to illegal operators, who use any advertising methods — both online and offline — without regard to restrictions. However, examples of reasonable regulation do exist. One such example is how the law permits

It is commonly believed that the Western market is a benchmark for the sustainable development of the gambling industry. Many European countries where gambling is legalized demonstrate record growth in online GGR, an increase in the number of gambling companies, and a growing player base. This has been made possible by the systematic development of the regulatory environment, which allows for maintaining a balance between expanding business opportunities and protecting player

Problem gambling is not a critical issue for the Ukrainian gambling market. The share of potential problem gamblers typically accounts for 0.5–1% of the total number of players. Nevertheless, gambling addiction does exist and therefore requires targeted countermeasures. There are several mechanisms to address this challenge — ranging from state regulation through systems such as the State Online Monitoring System (SOMS) to technical solutions developed and implemented by the

One of the key events in the gambling market last year was the emergence of a new regulator, PlayCity . It was established to streamline and strengthen regulatory mechanisms, automate the process of issuing and revoking gambling licenses, and combat illegal operators. In each of these areas, certain steps have already been taken, inspiring optimism about the future of regulation in the industry. However, to fully establish effective processes, many more changes across multipl

Over the past several years, lotteries have been the subject of active discussion within the gambling sector. Unfortunately, these discussions have not focused on industry development or investment potential, but rather on the illegal activities of lottery operators, imitation of gambling, non-payment of taxes, and avoidance of licensing fees. Finally, the newly created regulator, PlayCity, has paid attention to this situation and announced an open tender for obtaining lotter

Traditionally, at the end of the year we sum up the performance of Ukraine’s legal gambling market. Despite the fact that the market continues to operate amid tax and regulatory uncertainty, it still generates significant revenues for the state budget. Over the first ten months of 2025 alone, gambling has already contributed more than UAH 14.5 billion to the budget in taxes. Given current trends, this figure may reach UAH 16–17 billion by the end of the year. According to the

In developed countries, lotteries are one of the key sources of revenue for state budgets within the gambling sector. Through active regulation of the industry, governments receive significant amounts in taxes and fees. In Ukraine, however, the situation remains uncertain. As a result, we have a multi-million-dollar sector of the economy that is not controlled by the state in any way and creates problems for legal businesses. The first steps toward addressing this issue have

The Ukrainian gambling market has existed in a state of uncertainty for far too long. And although licensed gambling operators have managed to adapt, it is impossible to unlock the industry’s true potential under such conditions. This uncertainty has, without exaggeration, taken on a systemic character. It has created a situation in which the legal segment is forced to compete with the illegal one for players, but under much more difficult conditions — since legal companies m

Legalization is always only the first step in building any system in a country. Conventionally, it is a permit that authorizes the start of a certain process. However, what should be done after this "permit" is obtained? What are the next steps? These are the most difficult questions. The answer to them requires systematic work aimed at making this "permission" work and ensuring that all parties involved benefit from it. That is why the development of a regulatory system capa