Kyiv, December 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) - MSL LLC state lottery operator has faced the problem of the illegal closure by the police of its sales outlets in different regions of Ukraine, company CEO Andriy Uriadov has said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

"At the end of last week Interior Ministry officers closed 200 out of the 4,500 existing MSL state lottery sales outlets. We have no information why the Interior Ministry did this," he said.

Uriadov suggested that there are two possible reasons for such actions. The first one is that the ministry officers inadvertently confuse illegal gambling establishments with official state lottery sales outlets. Given the statements of the Interior Ministry, the state is conducting a campaign against illegal gambling business. The second one is that an illegal fight is carried out against the state lottery operator through the police.

"If the second assumption is correct, we regard it as malicious anti-Ukrainian activities aimed at reducing budget revenues, because state lottery is a significant source of filling the budget of Ukraine," he said.

He also denied rumours that slot machines are installed at MSL state lottery sale outlets, saying that they are confused with ticketing terminals.