The responsible gaming principles have been updated. What changes can we expect?

The Responsible Gaming Principles are the basis of social responsibility of the gambling business towards players. Until recently, this document had no legal force, although it defined the rules that legal gambling organisers should follow to prevent the spread of gambling addiction and dangerous gambling behaviour among players. Recently, the Ministry of Digital Transformation updated and approved new responsible gambling principles, expanding and detailing their content. Moreover, compliance with these principles was made mandatory for obtaining gambling licences.

After the Ministry of Digital Transformation revised the responsible gambling principles, their number increased from 8 to 10. In particular, the principle of "no incentives to play" was added, and the principles of "self-control" and "self-restraint", which were previously combined into one, were defined separately.

The inclusion of the principle of "no encouragement to play" was one of the most significant innovations. This principle effectively obliges legal gambling organisers to refrain from any actions that encourage players to continue playing after deciding to stop. That is, for example, if a player wants to close their account, they should be able to do so without receiving any incentives to stay. This is important because previously, the principles of responsibility were mainly related to the lack of incentives for players during the game.

The changes also affected other aspects of the game. In particular: the procedure for starting the game (it now starts only after the player has set their own time and financial limits); the prohibition of direct and indirect methods of rewarding players for losing by organising companies; and the ability for a player to instantly submit an online application to block access to the game at any time, etc.

It is expected that the new principles will make gambling safer and more transparent for players, reducing the risks of gambling addiction. This is an important step towards building a safer and more civilised gambling market, where conditions for the development of gambling addiction should be minimised.

However, the main change is that compliance with the responsible gambling rules will now be mandatory and will be one of the conditions for obtaining licences. The government made the relevant decision on 15 September 2025. This means that if legal organisers violate these rules after obtaining gambling licences, they will risk losing the licences for which they paid tens of millions of hryvnias.

Strengthening the regulatory influence of the state to prevent gambling addiction is a modern global trend that Ukraine cannot ignore. The fact that the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the new regulator, PlayCity, have made the practical implementation of these principles one of their priorities and made them mandatory gives us hope that the full completion of gambling market reform will happen faster than before. We hope to see similarly decisive steps to adapt tax legislation, introduce a state-owned gambling system, and intensify the fight against illegal operators.