The relevant bill, which allows setting up a state fund to support the social sphere, was approved by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on 20 January. Thus, the money to implement the idea would be recovered from the annual payments to the holders of gambling enterprises and slot sites.
The fund will operate on the “skeleton” of the budget special fund. Thus, the construction of schools, events, investments in culture and science, and medical projects will be financed. The fund will become fully operational in 2022. It will be partially filled from the funds and pockets of lottery organisers and casino providers.
The draft law would introduce sweeping reforms to the Budget Code of Ukraine. More than 50% of money from the sale of casino licenses for organizing the activity itself and a similar percentage of the proceeds from gambling halls’ licenses will go to funding.
The government also plans to use the newly-acquired money for the implementation of scientific and technical cases. However, a rigorous certification process must be in place before the application can be approved. Otherwise, no money from the fund will be made available.
For 2021, the profit from legalisation of gambling business and all slots online casino will amount to over 7 billion hryvnias, which is 70% more than last year’s revenue. Last year it made UAH 4.4bn.
We shall remind you that the Gambling Regulatory Commission has several times rejected applications from gambling zones and online casinos, explaining this by incorrectly prepared package of documents required for registration. Recently, the first lucky business licence holder was Spacex Ltd.
There are reports that a class action lawsuit is planned against the Ukrainian regulator and Spacex – the standards for obtaining a licence have not yet been formed and are not specific. Candidates who have been rejected are suggesting a class action lawsuit. It is reasonable that competitors have questions: what exactly was the way the company managed to achieve the licence?
Spacex representatives claim that the whole procedure was crystal clear, and add: their documents were accepted on the fourth attempt.
As of January, more than 20 applicants – operators, online gambling providers and land-based casino holders – had applied for a licence from the Ukrainian jurisdiction to conduct gambling activities and establish gambling sites and zones.
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