11:54
20.04.2024

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine “On countering the negative consequences of gambling on the Internet.”

The texts of relevant decree No. 234/2024 and the NSDC decision, both dated April 20, are published on the website of the head of state.

“The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the leadership of other military formations formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, should immediately prohibit military personnel from accessing gambling establishments and/or participating in gambling on the Internet for the duration of the legal regime of martial law,” the text of the NSDC decision says.

Within three months, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine was instructed to ensure the adoption of a clinical protocol (standard) for the treatment of severe gambling addiction and appropriate training of medical workers in order to timely identify signs of severe gambling addiction in patients, conditions that may precede the occurrence of such dependence and timely provision of necessary assistance for the prevention and treatment of this disease. The Ministry of Social Policy was instructed to adopt the state standard for the provision of social services “017.4. Socio-psychological rehabilitation of people with gambling addiction” and conduct training for its representatives.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has been instructed for a month to ensure that the online casino organizer prohibits registration of several accounts for one player, as well as to limit the time of continuous participation in online gambling per day for one account. Also, according to the decision, the organizers of online gambling will have to set a limit on the player’s spending on the game for a certain time before the start of the game, with the possibility of changing such a limit no more than once a month.

The government has also been instructed to develop a procedure for restricting all forms of gambling advertising, in particular using the symbols of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the dissemination of relevant contextual material.

According to the decision, a state online monitoring system, a national awareness campaign on the dangers of gambling and threats, as well as the specifics of the functioning of the register of persons who have limited access to gambling establishments and participation in gambling will have to be introduced within a month.

The National Commission, which carries out state regulation in the fields of electronic communications, radio frequency spectrum and postal services, will have to block illegal websites that provide access to gambling, on the recommendation of the central executive authority for the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of organizing and conducting gambling and lotteries.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), together with the authorized bodies, has been instructed to ensure that gambling organizers carry out inspections within two months on their compliance with the sanction legislation of Ukraine, as a result of which measures should be taken to apply appropriate sanctions to gambling organizers.

The National Bank of Ukraine was recommended to introduce a ban on accepting dual-use goods as collateral within two weeks, and within two months to approve methodological recommendations for banks to block payments of citizens with credit funds to the accounts of gambling organizers, as well as payment card issuing banks within the framework of the implementation of the law “On preventing and countering the legalization (laundering) of criminally obtained income, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” in terms of P2P transfers.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has been instructed to negotiate with Apple and Google within a month regarding the prohibition of placing gambling applications without an appropriate license in the UA zone in their app stores.

The Prosecutor General’s Office, together with the SBU, the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI), the National Police of Ukraine, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, has been recommended to strengthen response measures to violations of the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine by business entities operating in the gambling market.