Unfortunately, attacks on the legal gambling business have already become a kind of "norm". Legal organizers are blamed for all the problems that are usually associated with gambling, although in reality, illegal organizers are the main source of them. However, a deeper analysis of the nature of these attacks reveals that they are not carried out by "ordinary citizens" or civic activists. These planned media discrediting campaigns are funded by illegal organizers and supported by their lobbyists at the state level.
Today, the gambling industry is facing a very interesting and at the same time confusing situation, as illegal organizers are in a position of strength and are actively attacking licensed companies. That is, lawbreakers feel so free and confident that they aggressively attack businesses that pay taxes, license fees and comply with other rules.
The most active in this regard are lottery operators, who have been continuously increasing the volume of their illegal activities in recent years. Without any licenses, even lottery licenses, they not only organize and conduct various types of lotteries, but also imitate gambling on their platforms. Without paying any deductions to the state budget, lottery operators imitate online casino, betting, and slot machine activities. However, critics of legal gambling pretend that there is no problem with illegal lottery activity, despite the fact that it causes tens of millions of hryvnias in losses to the state every month.
It is clear that this situation plays into the hands of lottery operators and those who support them. Since the legalization of gambling, lottery operators have been actively working to lobby the Cabinet of Ministers to adopt license conditions for simulated gambling. This means that lottery operators would like to create legal conditions for licenses when they would pay for one license and conduct at least five types of gambling activities. In this way, they seek to "legalize" themselves and continue to imitate a range of gambling activities without paying the relevant license fees and taxes.
As a result, the market is currently in a situation where, in order to operate legally, gambling organizers have to pay license fees for each individual activity, while lottery operators can do the same absolutely free of charge and with impunity. For example, companies such as Favbet and Vbet have several licenses in different areas of gambling and pay for each license separately. Favbet pays for land-based casinos, online casinos, betting, and slot machines. Vbet pays for online casinos, betting, and online poker.
This is how a civilized gambling market should work. Everyone should benefit from its functioning - business, government, and players. The "alternative" promoted by lottery companies is aimed solely at their benefit. There are no taxes or license fees in their schemes, no principles of responsible gambling, player identification, or prevention of gambling addiction. All they think about is their own excessive profits. That is why it is necessary to adopt appropriate licensing conditions for lotteries as soon as possible. They should not only provide for license fees commensurate with other types of gambling, but also impose strict sanctions for imitating gambling without the appropriate licenses.