The Ukrainian Gambling Council presented its first large-scale sociological study of public attitudes toward gambling in Ukraine.
Today, the Ukrainian Gambling Council unites more than 80% of licensed gambling operators in Ukraine and is the country’s most representative self-regulating gambling platform.
The key goal of our association is not only to establish a dialogue between legal gambling representatives and the State, but also to become an analytical centre and a reliable source of information on the development of the gambling industry in Ukraine. And we are actively advancing down this path.
As part of a series of researches aimed at studying and analysing the gambling market reform in Ukraine, UGC conducted a large-scale quantitative sociological study of attitudes of Ukrainians to gambling.
The findings of the first such sociological study conducted after the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On State Regulation of Activities on Organising and Conducting Gambling” turned out to be quite interesting. It should be noted that, in general, three key indicators characterize the Ukrainians’ attitude toward gambling.
1. 43.2% of respondents support at least one argument in favour of gambling legalization in Ukraine. Taking age as the criterion, respondents aged 18-34 (50.6%) are the strongest advocates of gambling legalization. The indicator of support for legalization among two other age groups fluctuates at about 40%, namely 43.4% for citizens aged 35 to 54 and 37.5% for respondents aged 55 or older.
2. 7.2% of respondents stated that they would like to participate in at least one type of gambling in the future. This indicates that Ukrainians are not a “gambling nation”, and that the key objective of the legalization is to attract foreign players and develop gambling tourism. So, the reform is progressing in the direction planned from the start.
3. Among the respondents who would like to gamble in the future, the following types of gambling were the most popular:
· online poker – 2.7%;
· online casino – 3.2%;
· casino – 3.4%;
· slot machines – 4.1%;
· betting – 4.5%.
As we will all recall, from 2009 to mid-2020, the gambling market in Ukraine operated outside the law, which is why no surveys of the Ukrainians’ attitude to gambling in general or to certain types of gambling were conducted.
The Ukrainian Gambling Council plans to undertake such studies on a regular basis not only to better understand the establishment process of the gambling market in Ukraine, but also to develop an adequate feedback tool between the society and market operators.