Gambling and lotteries in Ukraine will now be controlled by the State Agency "PlayCity"

Gambling and lotteries in Ukraine will now be controlled by the State Agency "PlayCity"

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has established the state agency "PlayCity." The task of the newly created agency will be to implement state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling, as well as in the lottery sector.

This was reported from a message by the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, Taras Melnychuk, on Telegram.

According to the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, the decision to create the agency was made today, March 21, at a government meeting.

According to him, the "PlayCity" state agency has been established as the central executive body, whose activities are directed and coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers through the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology Development — the Minister of Digital Transformation, and which implements state policy in the fields of organizing and conducting gambling, as well as in the lottery sector.

Member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksiy Honcharenko noted on his Facebook page that in 2025, the funding of the newly created agency will be carried out within the budget of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL), which was liquidated in December last year. The number of employees of the agency will be 61 (the same number was reduced in KRAIL). The new body will be located in the same premises where KRAIL was previously situated.

Recall that intentions to liquidate KRAIL were first announced by Mykhailo Fedorov in May 2023. According to him, experts from the Ministry of Digital Transformation studied the situation in the gambling market and concluded that the regulator in its current form was simply not needed. Fedorov was confident that the activities of KRAIL created corruption risks and hindered the rapid development of the gambling industry.

In February 2023, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada approved in the first reading the government’s draft law No. 9256 on amendments to the organization and conduct of gambling and lotteries, which, in particular, proposed to liquidate KRAIL. At that time, the head of the financial committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Danylo Hetmantsev, stated that the creation of the KRAIL state commission was a mistake.

In December 2024, the Verkhovna Rada passed in full a bill on strengthening control in the gambling market and the liquidation of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries.