Ukraine Adds Bonusing Restrictions to new Regime

Ukraine’s Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) has revealed its first responsible gaming measures for the newly re-regulated market.

The new measures include restricting bonuses and incentives for existing players. The rules say that operators are “obliged to refrain from providing players with any bonus payments, and/or providing goods or services through incentives, the provision of which is directly or indirectly due to the losses of a player in a certain game”.

In other words, operators are not allowed to offer bonuses to players as a result of them losing money, or to make a bonus contingent on losses.

Meanwhile, players must be offered the opportunity to self-exclude and set deposit limits. There is also a requirement for players to be able to see how much time they have spent gambling.

The regulator has also made it mandatory for staff within operators to be trained to recognise the definition and possible signs of problem gambling.

KRAIL has already issued licences, but legislation around the taxation of the industry is yet to be confirmed.

Last week, a bill to set gambling taxes in the country progressed to a second reading but was not passed through the country’s legislature.

The bill would have set tax rates at 10 per cent of gross revenue for all verticals. Earlier proposals had set the rate between 10 per cent and 30 per cent depending on the vertical.