Over the past two weeks, the Ukrainian government has taken steps towards implementation of the recently adopted Gambling Law.
On 30 September 2020, the governmental formally established the Gambling and Lotteries Commission, a new specialised gambling authority to oversee this sector. The main characteristics of the new regulator are as follows:
- The body is composed of seven members including the Head of the Commission;
- Each member is nominated through an open competition and appointed by the government;
- The term of appointment is four years;
- The head office will be located in Kyiv, Ukraine;
- The Commission's main powers and functions include:
- licensing authority (e.g. issuing and cancelling licenses, developing licensing terms and conditions for further approval by the government);
- monitoring the market (e.g. administration of the state online monitoring system);
- state supervision in the gambling area (e.g. inspections, imposing sanctions on market players, etc.);
- formation and maintenance of the state gambling-related registers (e.g. registers of gambling operators, blacklisted players, etc.);
- control over safety and the protection of gamers from addiction.
On 5 October 2020, as a next step, the government issued a decision on rules for the open competition and appointment of Commission members. This decision should initiate the recruitment process. Announcements of these vacancies have already been published on the governmental website.
The government expects the Commission to start operations in November 2020.
For more information on this law and the Ukrainian gambling sector, contact your local CMS advisor or local CMS experts: Olga Belyakova and Mykola Heletiy.
