Betting Sites In Ukraine

Posted : admin On 7/26/2022

Gambling in Ukraine was illegal between 2009 and 2020. Parliament outlawed gambling business in 2009 after a fire incident in a gambling hall which killed nine people in Dnipropetrovsk. After that Ukraine parliament passed the law on prohibition of gambling business in Ukraine. The president of Ukraine at that time signed the law on June 25 to ban the gambling. The law also applied to internet casinos. It did not apply to lotteries.

Ukraine parliament has legalized the gambling again on 14th July 2020, with some regulations and age restrictions. The minimum age should be 22.

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  • Ukraine Betting Sites. Over the past 5 years or so, the Ukrainian government has taken an incredibly hard stance on online gambling. The conservative government seems to be taking a relatively anti-gambling stance, and because of this, there are fewer betting sites in Ukraine than before. That being said, it is possible to place bets online – and as you’ll see from this page, some of the sites are based offshore.

Gaming Zone

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Significant provision of the draft law is the creation of so called gaming zones. All gambling activities except for state cash lotteries should move to these gaming zones. The list of gaming zone includes:

  • Cultural and entertainment complex, nonresidential premises, Ukraine registered ships that can accommodate a casino with gambling hall of at least 500 sq meters. The territories of the autonomous republic of the Crimea and resort towns located within its boundaries are also proclaimed a special gambling zone.
  • Hotels with at least 4 star rating and 100 rooms.

Gambling cannot be opened within less than 500 m proximity of the educational and government institutions and healthcare centers. The main reasons of choosing particular locations were the intentions of the Ukrainian government to:

  • To limit the possibilities of the vulnerable part of the population to play games
  • Get profit from the EURO 12 that will be held in Ukraine and will inevitably attract many solvent tourists.

To be entering the casino, gamblers will have to comply with the dress code and pass the strict face control.

Who Can Do?

The draft law was developed with the intention of creating a properly regulated gambling market in Ukraine. For this reason the law provides stringent requirements for potential gambling business owners.

  • A very serious financial background is one of them. The cost of one time fee for obtaining a gambling license will amount to $5 million.
  • The same amount of money gambling business operators should have in the form of registered capital.
  • The license will be issued for a term of seven years, so the license fee can be paid in parts within the period of license activity.
  • The size of the fee is determined by the Act on Gambling business.

Slot Machine Hall, Land Based Casino and Retail Betting Shops

The commission for the development and regulation of gambling is expected to issue 20 licenses for land based casinos. Casinos will only be allowed to operate in 5 star hotels with 200 rooms (in Kyiv) of 150 rooms in the rest of the country. Gambling area must be at least 500 sq meter. There are over 60 five star hotels in Ukraine.

Slot machine halls will be allowed in hotels with 3 stars or more and with 200 rooms (in Kyiv) or 150 rooms in the rest of the country. The annual fee for slot machine halls is expected to be $1.3 million.

Government is expected to issue 80 retail sports betting shop licenses. License holders will be able to open no more than ten locations. 32 of the licenses are expected to be awarded to retailers in Kyiv, 16 to retailers in Odessa, Kharkov, Dnipro, and Lviv, and 32 in other cities around the country. Betting shop licensees will need to demonstrate a bank guarantee or capital reserves of at least 7200 minimum wages, or $1.3 million.

License Fees

In order to apply for license, operators will have to be in possession of capital reserves or a bank guarantee of $1.3 million. The auction for Kyiv based casino licenses will start at $1.5 million per year. License will be valid for five years.

Requirements

In order to be eligible to apply for gambling license, potential licensees will be required to have a legal address in Ukraine. Companies will have to supply tax, payment, and accounting information, as well as the identities of shareholders and the ultimate beneficiary of the business.

Taxes

A separate bill has been introduced into the Verkhovna Rada to reform the tax code and lower the gambling tax from 18% to 10%.

Online Gambling Businesses

The government is expected to offer 10 licenses to provide digital gambling and betting services. Licensees will be allowed to conduct both sports gambling and casino games.

License Fees

Online casino licenses will be awarded through electronic auction. The bidding is planned to start at $1 million per year.

Betting Sites In Ukraine

Requirements

Companies will be required to be registered in Ukraine. They will have to submit an application, a legal address, tax information, payment information, accounting information, information about their shareholders, and information about the ultimate beneficiary of the business.

Operators will be required to provide documents specifying the domain name of the online casino or betting site. The software that operators use will have to be connected to an online monitoring system, operate in accordance with international standards and certifications, and correspond to technical documents.

Taxes

For now, the tax scheme for online gambling business is the same as the one for land based casinos.

Each gambling activity requires the following licenses to be obtained

Gambling activitiesLicense Fee Main Requirements
Land-based GamingEUR 9.2m in Kyiv

EUR 4.6m in other cities

Only within special gaming zones:

● in Kyiv – 5-star hotels with no less than 150 rooms;

● in other cities – 5-star hotels with no less than 100 rooms;

● in-country recreation complexes with a minimum area of 10K sq. m.;

● in special territorial gaming zones established by the government.[6].

Minimum area of casino – 500 sq. m.

Minimum number of personnel – 50 employees.

Minimum gaming equipment:

● in cities with over 500K citizens – ten gaming tables (including two roulette tables) and 50 gaming machines;

● in smaller cities and rural areas – five gaming tables (including one roulette table) and 20 gaming machines.

Online GamingEUR 995,000Only through web sites with .UA domain name and included into the special register by the Ukrainian regulator and/or through mobile apps.
BettingEUR 4.6mLand-based – only within special gaming zones:

● in Kyiv – 3, 4, 5-star hotels with no less than 50 rooms;

● in other cities – 3, 4, 5-star hotels with no less than 25 rooms;

● on the racetracks (for horse betting)

Minimum area of betting shop – 50 sq. m.

Online – only through web sites with .UA domain name and included into the special register by the Ukrainian regulator and/or through mobile apps.

Gaming machinesEUR 1.2mOnly within special gaming zones:

● in Kyiv – 3, 4, 5-star hotels with no less than 50 rooms;

● in other cities – 3, 4, 5-star hotels with no less than 25 rooms

Minimum area of slot machine hall – 300 sq. m.

Minimum gaming equipment – 50 gaming machines in one gaming machines hall.

Online pokerEUR 765,000Only through web sites with .UA domain name and included into the special register by the Ukrainian regulator and/or through mobile apps.

[1] One license = one casino.

[2] One license allows conducting both land-based and online betting activities.

[3] One license = 250 gaming machines.

[4] Licenses fees are calculated based on the number of statutory minimum salaries; as of today, one statutory salary = UAH 4,723 (or ~ EUR 150).

[5] More specific licensing terms and conditions are to be yet developed and approved by the Government.

[6] not more than five special territorial gaming zones could be established in Ukraine; minimum area of casino – 10K sq. m.; minimum gaming equipment – 20 gaming tables (including 4 roulette tables) and 250 gaming machines.

All the above licenses will be issued for five-year durations. The Gambling Law also requires gambling operators to obtain supplementary licenses (to be obtained in addition to and for the same duration as the main licenses listed in the table above) for:

  • Each gaming table and/or roulette table – EUR 27,000 annually for each roulette table, and EUR 13,800 annually for each gaming (non-roulette) table;
  • Each betting shop – EUR 4,600 annually for each shop;
  • Each gaming machine – EUR 920 annually for each machine.

In addition, the Gambling Law provides the following separate licenses:

  • For the provision of gambling services (supply of software directly used in gambling activity) – EUR 46,000 for five years; and
  • Investment license (issued in relation to an investment land-based gaming project approved by the Ukrainian government) – free of charge for ten years plus supplementary licenses under the rates specified above.

Gambling operators

The main requirements for being a gambling operator include:

  • must be a legal entity – resident of Ukraine;
  • must have charter capital of not less than EUR 970,000;
  • must not be directly or indirectly controlled by the persons or citizens of the ‘aggressor state’ (currently, the Russian Federation);
  • must not be a bank, other financial institution, or a non-governmental organization;
  • Must have a target deposit or a bank guarantee for the amount of EUR 1.1m.

Gamers and social responsibly

The Gambling Law pays special attention to the safety and protection of gamers from addiction, including establishing a minimum age of 21 years, mandatory identification of gamers, a registry with blacklisted players (e.g. players may irrevocably request to place themselves on a blacklist or be blacklisted at the request of close relatives) and other measures.

Regulator

According to the Gambling Law, the government will form a new specialized gambling authority that will be responsible for state supervision in the gambling area, including issuing licenses, developing by-laws, monitoring and inspections.

State online monitoring system

The Gambling Law provides for the establishment of a central monitoring system that allows the regulator to connect with gaming equipment and monitor all gaming activities in real-time. Such a system has not yet been developed and launched, but is expected to happen under the Gambling Law in two years. Until that time, licence fee amounts (i.e. the annual proportionate amounts) for betting, online gaming, and annual supplementary licence fees for each gaming machine were tripled.

Advertising

The Gambling Law introduces amendments to the Ukrainian advertising law regarding rules and limitations for the advertising of gambling activity, which includes bans on the advertising of gambling on TV, radio, Internet from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., bans on advertising in any printed media (except for specialized gambling editions), and bans on outdoor advertising.

Gambling is frowned upon and has been outlawed in many parts of Eastern Europe. Does Ukraine follow the approach of its neighbouring nations when it comes to allowing its citizens to bet?

Betting websites in ukraine

We take a look at the history of land based and online gambling, and talk you through which firms are accessible to Ukrainian residents. If you’re unsure about how t
o get money online, we’ll talk you through what deposit and withdrawal methods are available and what sports are popular to bet on, before finishing up with our thoughts on what the future holds for the locals.


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History of Online Sports Betting

Ukraine gained its independence from Russian rule at the end of the Cold War in 1991 and gambling flourished. Without any specific laws or regulations to control operator practices, by the year 2000, there were nearly 50 venues with gaming machines in Ukraine (the vast majority concentrated around the capital Kiev). The Olympic Casinos group were a dominant force and in some of their more remote locations, customers could play casino style table games such as Roulette, Blackjack and Poker.

In 2003, the government made a decision to regulate and control gambling in the country. The draft law N 4204 “On Gambling Games in Ukraine” was created and permitted the following types of games to be played at licenced operators:

  • Bingo
  • Totalizator (horse racing)
  • Cylindrical games (including roulette);
  • Cards or dice
  • Slot machines

For some reason, sports betting was not covered in the draft legislation [1]

Despite the new laws and regulations, unlicensed gambling was rife, with thousands of salons around the country allowing underage gamblers to play at their venue. Everything came to a head in 2009 when a fire at a Ukrainian gambling hall killed 9 people. As a results, then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko made the decision to prohibit all forms of gambling, claiming it was demoralising the country’s youth and was only making families who had been hit by the economic recession even poorer. “On Prohibition of Gambling Business in Ukraine” stated that ‘any placing of bets in which the outcome is found to be determined by chance in whole or in part is considered gambling under the law, and is banned, except where permitted by law’. [2][3]

Poker was a point of contention, and it was initially exempt from the new laws, as it was considered a sport. However, the government rescinded this decision at the end of 2009, to much objection. Eventually, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled in favour of the poker industry, deciding it was a sport and was legal, thus paving the way for a plethora of poker rooms to reopen.

Although online gambling in Ukraine is illegal, it has not stopped citizens from betting, with most of the major bookmakers from around the world accepting clients from the country. The laws may be strict on paper, but without a strong censorship program (like Russia or Belarus), actually eradicating online gambling seems unrealistic.

In a promising turn of events, in June 2014, the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk made a statement where he claimed the country needed to legalise gambling to bring additional revenue into the country; “It’s absolutely necessary to adopt the law on the legalization of gambling and to obtain additional revenue to the budget of the country,” he said. It is widely accepted that there underground gambling is rife, and the country may as well benefit from regulating and taxing the industry.

Where Can Ukrainians Bet Online?

As mentioned, many bookmakers pay scant regard to the domestic laws in Ukraine, and place the onus on the customer to know their local regulations and rules. The vast majority of firms will accept sign ups from Ukrainian citizens. One of the most popular firms is PariMatch, a bookmaker aimed at the Eastern European market (licenced in Curacao). Other bookmakers accepting sign ups include:

Some big firms such as Bwin, BetVictor, Coral and Ladbrokes do not offer their services to Ukrainian customers.

Deposit Options for Residents of Ukraine

On PariMatch, customers have the option of depositing using:

  • Skrill
  • Visa/MasterCard
  • Online bank transfer
  • WebMoney
  • Neteller

When using WebMoney, customer are able to deposit in Ukranian Hryvnia. For all other methods, they must deposit in US dollars or Euros. The above payment methods are available with the vast majority of bookmakers. Even though the regulation isn’t that strong in Ukraine, it would be prudent for customers to use one of the e-wallets to increase their level of security and keep intact the anonymity of their transactions.

Popular Sports to Bet On

Football is the most popular sport in Ukraine, and the country has produced some very good players in recent years, most notably Andriy Shevchenko. The country hosted UEFA Euro 2012, although they went out in the opening round.

On the domestic scene, the Ukrainian Premier League has been dominated by two teams; Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk. With significant financial investment, these two teams have managed to compete on the European stage, with Shakhtar Donetsk winning the UEFA Cup in 2009. Fans are fervent in Ukraine and come in their droves to support their teams. Kiev have a 70,050 seater stadium, whilst their rivals Donetsk can fit just over 52,000 fans into their ground.

Besides football, basketball is extremely popular in Ukraine. The top professional league is the Ukrainian Basketball Superleague, which attracts players from around the globe. The country is hosting the 2015 EuroBasket championship, which should further develop interest in the sport.

Although they have spent most of their career boxing in Germany, Ukraine can boast two of the finest heavyweight boxers of the modern era in the Klitchsko brothers. At a much lower weight, Vasyl Lomachenko is flying the flag. The diminutive fighter is widely renowned as one of the best amateur fighters ever to lace up the gloves, and he is already making his mark on the professional ranks.

What Does the Future Hold?

The statement made by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in 2014 was certainly promising, as he recognised that gambling was rife despite it being illegal, and therefore it would make economic sense to legalise and regulate as opposed to criminalise. However, regardless of any changes in laws, it remains fairly easy for Ukrainian citizens to gamble freely online. Some European bookmakers will not accept their business, but the majority (including the major firms), are happy to open up accounts for customers joining from Ukraine.

References

Best Betting Sites In Usa

[1]Ukraine Gaming Laws – Gaming and Lottery Files
[2]Gambling Banned Nationwide – Library of Congress
[3] Gambling Market in Ukraine – Ukrainian Law Firms