The Verkhovna Rada approved in the first reading the draft law No. 9256d on the liquidation of KRAIL and strengthening control over gambling and advertising restrictions.
About it reported MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on his Telegram channel.
He received 272 votes.
The draft law provides for:
- Restrictions on gambling advertising (including the inadmissibility of speculation on the topic of war and volunteering) and a ban on sponsorship;
- Identifying additional tools to restrict visits to gambling facilities and participation in gambling for potentially vulnerable categories of the population during martial law;
- improving the tools for controlling the gambling business (control purchases, monitoring the Internet);
- establishing additional criteria for license revocation, improving the requirements for impeccable business reputation of officials of gambling organizers, and establishing requirements for gambling service providers.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation is likely to take over the functions of CRAIL.
«This is the right decision and an important anti-corruption bill. It proposes to reorganize the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) and remove the human factor from the licensing process — everything will be automatic and according to clear criteria», — this is how Mykhailo Fedorov, the head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, reacted to the adoption of the bill.
As a reminder, on March 29, a petition «Restrictions on online casinos» appeared on the website of the President’s Office, calling for restrictions on the gambling business. The petition was created by Pavlo Petrichenko, a soldier of the 59th Brigade. He said that it was not moderated for 10 days. But within a few hours of its publication, it gained 25 thousand votes, which is required for consideration by the head of state.
In the evening, Zelenskyy responded to the petition and instructed the SBU, the State Special Communications Service, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the National Security and Defense Council to analyze the issue of online casinos.
The Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov supported the idea of eliminating the KRAIL and proposed to automate the issuance of gambling licenses. The government supported the draft law of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and sent it to the parliament for consideration.