Lottery operators are doing everything they can to avoid working according to the general rules set for the legal gambling market in Ukraine! It is not enough for them that lottery activities are currently regulated by a separate special law. No, it is not enough. They are trying to consolidate their ‘exclusivity’ in more and more new legal acts. In particular, one of them was the draft law No. 9256-d, to which, by the way, the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada provided almost seven pages of comments.
However, the problem is not only in lotteries... What is wrong with another attempt to ‘improve’ the national gambling legislation? First of all, it is worth noting that the ‘improvers’ proposed to distribute the functions of regulating the gambling market between several state authorities, which makes it impossible to form a single regulatory environment and contradicts the current European practice and the practice of all civilized countries where independent gambling market regulators have been created.
The second important and significant problem, which is also emphasized by the experts of the State Legal Expertise Centre, is that the draft law contains wording that lacks legal certainty and unambiguous perception and is not typical of the texts of laws! For example: ‘participation of popular persons or direct or indirect approval of gambling by popular persons, as well as the use of images and mentions of the names of popular people, characters of cinema, television and animated films, reputable organizations’ or “...with the aim of creating a misleading impression...”. This will significantly complicate marketing activities in the gambling market and lead to the shadowing of the advertising market for gambling-related services.
In addition, the draft law proposes to completely ban gambling advertising, advertising of trademarks and other intellectual property rights under which gambling activities are carried out. Such a provision will make illegal operators ecstatic, as it is hard to think of a better gift for shadowy organizations. After all, when a bill introduces restrictions on advertising gambling services, it can make it difficult to attract new customers and reduce the visibility of legal organizers. This problem is typical and it always arises due to restrictions on advertising and marketing.
As for the fiscal terminology, there are also ambiguous and uncoordinated definitions, which will allow tax officials to interpret them at their own discretion. This can lead to both an increase in corruption and excessive fiscal charges for legal gambling business organizers.
Accordingly, an unjustified (except for the disordered terminology) increase in the tax burden will reduce the profitability of companies and encourage some of them to go into the shadows. Illegals will also be very happy to receive such a gift...
This is always the case and is typical for any market: if the legislation becomes more burdensome, it creates favorable conditions for illegal operators that do not follow the rules and can offer more favorable conditions for players.
It is worth reminding once again that any changes in the rules related to the organization of games may affect the attractiveness of offers for players, and the growing uncertainty about new regulations may scare away potential investors who will be less inclined to invest in a market with an unstable legal environment.
Overall, the adoption of such a draft law may significantly change the landscape of the legal gambling business in Ukraine, and its consequences require careful analysis by all market participants.
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