The Verkhovna Rada Committee approves closure of KRAIL in Ukraine

[Wolf32]

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy recommended adopting in the second reading and as a whole the draft law No. 9256-d on strengthening the fight against gambling addiction (ludomania) and improving state regulation of the organization and conduct of gambling and lotteries.

This was reported by the head of the committee Danylo Getmantsev.

According to him, the draft law was substantially revised before the second reading, and the proposals and amendments taken into account by the Committee during this revision provide for:

• liquidation of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) and distribution of its powers between the relevant ministry and a body without collegial status, which has yet to be created;
• prohibition of gambling advertising, except for a limited list of permitted methods, and prohibition of sponsorship, except for sports sponsorship;
• modernization of instruments of state supervision of the gambling market – controlled play is introduced as a control instrument to replace actual inspections;
• to combat gambling addiction, the bill provides for blocking illegal websites, tightening requirements for organizers and supplementing the grounds for license revocation, establishing a requirement for gambling organizers to carry out all non-cash payments exclusively through banks, improving the requirements for the State Online Monitoring System (SOMS), etc.;
• improving the legislation on state lotteries, in particular, establishing similar requirements for gambling organizers on the ownership structure, criteria for an impeccable business reputation, grounds for license revocation, brand requirements, as well as requirements for payments during state lotteries;
• amendments to the law “On the protection of the interests of subjects submitting reports and other documents during martial law or a state of war” on the resumption of reporting by gambling organizers and operators of state lotteries, etc.

Earlier, the Head of the Tax Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Daniil Getmantsev, explained why the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) should be liquidated in the coming weeks.

Getmantsev noted:

In my personal opinion, the blocking is happening on the part of the commission we created. This system was supposed to be launched in the summer of 2022. They have many explanations for why this did not happen. They say that the Ministry of Finance did not issue money, the Ministry of Finance says that it issued money, and so on.

In his opinion, if the management of KRAIL cannot cope with the challenges, it needs to write a letter of resignation.

The deputy said:

The bill on the liquidation of the commission is already ready for the second reading in parliament. I think that we will recommend it to the floor in the coming weeks. It will simply be an agency with a minimum of bureaucracy.