Ukrainian govt establishes PlayCity agency for gambling and lottery regulation
The Cabinet of Ministers has established the state agency PlayCity, which will oversee the implementation of government policy in the gambling and lottery sectors.
According to Taras Melnychuk, the Cabinet's representative in the Verkhovna Rada, the decision was approved during a government meeting on Friday.
PlayCity has been designated as a central executive body whose operations will be directed and coordinated by the Cabinet through Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for Innovations, Education, Science, and Technology – the Minister of Digital Transformation. The agency will be responsible for implementing state policy in the regulation of gambling and lotteries.
The new agency will operate under the Ministry of Digital Transformation and will be coordinated by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, MP Oleksiy Honcharenko stated on Telegram on Friday.
According to him, in 2025, PlayCity will be financed within the budget of the now-liquidated Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries. The agency will employ 61 people, the same number of jobs that were cut from the commission. Additionally, PlayCity will be located in the same premises previously occupied by the commission.
The next steps involve appointing the head of the state agency and approving the provisions governing the new institution, the Ministry of Digital Transformation's press service stated on Telegram on Friday.
"Our main goal is to digitize the licensing process and create tools for strict market oversight and combating illegal casinos. The state loses up to UAH 10 billion due to the shadow market. Digitalization of this sector will help eliminate corruption, make the market more transparent, and increase budget revenues, which will then be allocated to the needs of the Defense Forces," the ministry's statement read.
The establishment of the new agency, which will be responsible for implementing the Ministry of Digital Transformation's strategy for the gambling sector, was announced in mid-February by Deputy Minister for IT Development Oleksandr Borniakov. He emphasized that the ministry's team will continue advocating for the digitalization of the gambling sector and automation of the licensing process.