In all civilized countries, where a legal gambling market has a history of at least several decades, the system of state regulation was constantly being improved. Virtually everywhere, the area of improvement covers issues from the fundamental establishment of general rules of operation of gambling organizers to the current operational control of compliance with all provisions and rules of license agreements.
Adopted in 2020, the Law of Ukraine "On State Regulation of Activities on the Organization and Conduct of Gambling", which returned gambling to the legal field, envisages the creation of a specialized system of monitoring activities of organizing companies with the help of a software and hardware complex, the State Online Monitoring System (SOMS).
This system will allow real-time supervision of the compliance by gambling organizers with the requirements of legislation, protection against loss, theft, distortion, forgery, unauthorized actions regarding its destruction, modification, copying, etc., against unauthorized access via the Internet, as well as ensuring the principles of responsible gambling.
The implementation of the SOMS is also related to bringing in line the norms of fiscal legislation, which is provided for by separate amendments to the Tax Code and envisaged in draft law No. 2713-д, which was approved in the first reading even before the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine.
Further development of the legal gambling market depends on how quickly the issue with the introduction of the SOMS and amendments to the taxation system will be resolved. Development of the market means creating new jobs, new tax revenues to the central and local budgets, and an impulse to the development of related sectors of the economy.
The position of the vast majority of legal gambling organizers in Ukraine is unanimous: to introduce such much-needed changes in the market the following three simple steps should be taken.
1. Adopt the draft Law on introducing amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and other laws of Ukraine on taxation of income from the organization and conduct of gambling and lotteries (registration number 2713-d dated 19 June 2020) in the second reading and as a whole.
2. Adopt the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On Approval of the Procedure for Functioning of the State Online Monitoring System".
3. Ensure the creation and commissioning of the State Online Monitoring System simultaneously with the adoption of draft Law 2713-d.
The market is waiting for these decisions from the state! They do not need anything special or extremely complicated. All draft documents have been developed and analysed for harmonization and standardization with current legislation. Only political will is needed to make the above decisions.