News
A briefing from Parimatch on the legalization of betting in Ukraine
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Context
In 2009, after a fire incident in the gaming hall in Dnepropetrovsk city, gambling was banned in Ukraine. The ban, however, was supposed to be an intermediate “stage” in the development of the gambling market: it was assumed that gambling would be banned for a certain period and would be legalised with the adoption of new legislation. The goal of developing new legislation was to create a “civilised” gambling market that ensures the safety of players, protection from fraud and the banning of corruption.
After 10 years without such legislation, now there is a real attempt to change the situation and create a regulated r gambling market in Ukraine. A new draft law on legalization of gambling in Ukraine (draft law No 2285) was released on the official website of the parliament last week — on October 23. The law was drafted after President Zelenskyi promised to legalize betting as part of his agenda to liberalize the economy.
As stated by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk, the regulation is aimed at a developing a fair and regulated market that also eliminates the illegal and corrupt betting shops and halls that are currently able to operate across cities. Finance Minister Oksana Markarova also said that they estimates that a regulated betting market will bring an additional 5-9 bln UAH of potential tax revenue to the state budget.
However, the bill was published over three weeks late from the initially announced deadline. Moreover, the text of the bill itself was released only one week later after the official records of its registration in the parliament. As stated by some Ukrainian journalists and parliament’s insiders, the delay was because of different interested stakeholder groups trying to influence the legislation.
As the head of the parliamentary majority faction ‘Servant of the people’ David Arakhamia noted: “MPs and an expert group worked on the one version of the document, and the Cabinet of Ministers suddenly submitted its own version to the Ukrainian parliament – there are a number aspects of the Bill which currently fall short of the best standards and regulation initially proposed by MP’s and the expert working group.” Later on, another MP from the same majority faction (Servant of the people) Oleksandr Dubinsky also announced his firm intention to register an alternative draft law on gambling regulation.
What is included in the legislation?
The current version of the draft law released on the parliament’s website proposes a new licence system for betting operators. However, the number of licenses will be limited. For example, there will be only 20 for the whole country for casinos, 80 for bookmakers, 10 for online casinos, 5 for poker clubs and 5 for online poker clubs and 160 for slot machine halls. There will also be 10 licences for online operators, covering both sports betting and online casinos.
The market will be overseen by a newly created “Commission for the development and regulation of gambling market” The commission will conduct the auctions and have the power to revoke licenses, as well as implement further regulation to the industry. This body will consist of 7 members (all from Ukraine). Its chairman and members are appointed and dismissed by the government of Ukraine – the Cabinet of Ministers. The commission’s members should be the citizens of Ukraine, who have higher (in public administration and administration, specialized, economic or legal) education, experience in management positions of at least three years over the last ten years. However, its chairman and members should not be the owners of the corporate rights of gambling organizers, manufacturers of gambling equipment, receive financial or material remuneration and assistance from them, or hold any position.
The licences will be obtained through electronic auctions. However, the rules and procedures for the auctions, criteria and requirements for the participation are not determined yet. They are expected to be determined by the new Commission for the development and regulation of gambling market.
One of the most important provisions of the draft law is that the licences will be given for all types of gambling, both offline and online: casino, bookmakers, poker games, offline lotteries and slot machines. The licences will be valid for 5 years.
The starting price for licences has been already determined and is tied to the amount of the monthly subsistence minimum for able-bodied citizens in Ukraine. The exception is a lottery license, the price of which is not indicated and will be determined by the Commission for the development and regulation of gambling market.
The most expensive licence will be for a casino in Kyiv city – around 37.5 mln UAH per year (approx. 1.5 mln USD). The licence for a casino in other cities, online casino and bookmakers will cost from 25 mln UAH (≈1 mln USD), license for slot machines – from 7.5 mln UAH (≈3 mln USD). The poker club will cost the organizers the cheapest price – both offline and online, the license price starts at 1.25 million UAH (≈50K USD).
Each gambling table in a casino for the year costs another 1.5 million UAH (≈60K USD) for roulette or 750K (≈30K USD) for other sports. Each slot machine will also cost UAH 30k a year. The annual license of a betting shop (land-based) will cost UAH 750k.
Such a high entry price threshold, together with the requirement for an authorized capital of at least 30 million UAH, should guarantee that only serious operators will enter the market.
For bookmakers, the draft law will allow 800 land-based facilities throughout Ukraine for all operators, the opening of which is allowed only in non-residential premises. There is also a city distribution – 32 licenses for Kyiv (capital city of Ukraine), 16 – for Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Lviv (but no more than 40 betting shops for each city), and another 32 – for other cities.
The legislation includes the creation of a special fund – a finance to support healthcare, culture and sports. This would be a special fund of the state budget of Ukraine, which will be financed through the license payments and will distributed to these areas.
There is a restriction of the access for foreign players as the draft law says that verification/identification of a customer requires an identity document and a copy of an Individual Taxpayer Number (which is issued by the Ukrainian tax services). As a result, this restriction makes almost impossible the access of foreign players.
With regards to responsible betting, the new legislation introduces the practice of self-restriction for players. Any player can ask an operator of a regulatory commission for a self-restriction for a period of 6 months to 3 years. If a person does not recognize the existence of a gambling problem, his relatives can also implement this restriction. The draft law requires operators to be socially responsible and take care of the players, including promoting material on gaming addiction and providing players with information about medical institutions. The operators will also be required to ensure customer service will be able to identify and provide counsel around gambling addiction
What’s next?
The draft law is going to pass through debates and the procedure of proposals and amendments in the Ukrainian parliament, but several MPs already announced their intent to submit alternative versions of draft laws on gambling regulation. There is a need to make a process more open to allow the participation of the expert community and public in further elaboration of the rules for the legalised market. Any approved regulation has to receive a public legitimacy as it sets the tone for the development of a transparent and fair industry.
Source: European Gaming Media
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: A briefing from Parimatch on the legalization of betting in Ukraine
Latest News
What makes Turbo Games’ provably fair games so special?
A partnership between game developer Turbo Games and iGaming solution provider and aggregator Slotegrator began in November 2022 via the APIgrator game integration solution. Since then, the collaboration has been developing successfully — and now it’s time to analyze what made it successful.
Turbo Games has noticed how the new technologies spreading throughout the industry can work for the good of brand transparency and player loyalty: “We can already see how blockchain technology has made it possible to make betting checks more accessible to players. All you need is a blockchain-hash and a decoder service. We think we will continue to move in this direction. Many traditional online casinos do not offer the possibility to check the bet. Sooner or later we all have to come to this. Perhaps the development of artificial intelligence will help here, because we are already seeing its involvement in all spheres of human life.”
Turbo Games specializes in provably fair games. Provable fairness is a concept where players can verify their wins or losses using blockchain technology — the outcome of the game is dictated by a smart contract and is absolutely random, barring the possibility of any human involvement. Using cryptographic hashing algorithms, the gambling site and the player’s device both generate seeds (random strings of numbers). Players receive a key that allows them to check the results; if the results are the same as the game round they witnessed, it proves that there was no foul play.
According to statistics from Turbo Games, the audience for provably fair games is mostly between 18 and 25 years old. However, there are also players aged 35-40 who prefer traditional games but would like to try something new, and have turned their attention to provably fair games.
There are good odds that the technology of provably fair games will become more popular, if not even commonplace, because it gives players a feeling of transparency and proves that the business is trustworthy without the need to search through dozens of reviews. Whereas many innovations in iGaming simply add entertainment, provable fairness addresses security concerns and reassures players that they’re not being exploited, which is invaluable.
Provably fair games are beneficial for both players and online casinos. Vadim Potapenko, Head of Sales at Turbo Games, comments: “It often happens that the users are not satisfied with the result, because gambling is not only about big wins, but also possible losses. By allowing them to check the fairness of a bet, we make life easier for platforms and players. Of course, this allows us to communicate with partners and users that we work honestly and that’s why they should trust our games.”
Ayvar Gabidullin, Business Development Manager at Slotegrator, adds that “this type of game is now becoming more and more popular and has great potential for both players and game providers in the future. On the part of the player, the advantage is that the player can always be sure that his game is fair and he can independently check any of his bets. And for the game provider, this also simplifies the process of implementing casino games, since now it will not be necessary to obtain the appropriate certificates from independent laboratories before launching new games, they can immediately enter the market with these games and where anyone can check the result and make sure that that there is no cheating with players. Many game providers are starting to look towards this type of game. And as far as I see, many operators are starting to think about adding these games.”
What do players in 2023 need? The iGaming industry is all about reputation and trust. Players have a huge number of platforms to choose from, making them pickier and pickier. There’s an abundance of forums where players leave reviews, so if players view a brand as untrustworthy, there are plenty of places they can share their opinion. Provable fairness not only stops that from happening, it provides evidence to the contrary, giving players something else to talk about.
Slotegrator also recommends investing time and effort into localization and creating an effective and detailed marketing strategy — before trying provably fair technology players need to get to the platform, and there is no acquisition without marketing.
ABOUT SLOTEGRATOR
Since 2012, Slotegrator has been one of the iGaming industry’s leading software and business solution providers for online casino and sportsbook operators.
The company’s main focus is software development and support for online casino platforms, as well as the integration of game content and payment systems.
The company works with licensed game developers and offers a vast portfolio of casino content: slots, live casino games, poker, virtual sports, table games, lotteries, casual games, and data feeds for betting.
Slotegrator also provides consulting services in gambling license acquisition and business incorporation.
More information: https://slotegrator.pro/
ABOUT TURBO GAMES
Turbo Games — a provably fair games provider that belongs to Turbo Stars company — has an ambitious goal to establish widespread recognition throughout the iGaming world. Even though it is young, the company consists of professionals who have been working on the brand for over five years and are even planning to introduce a new brand for a wider audience soon.
Turbo Games also works in Europe, India, and South Africa, where the company sees the most potential and expects the same “hype” as in Brazil.
The portfolio of Turbo Games consists of 21 titles, including well-known games like Mines, Crash X, DoubleRoll, Hi-Lo, and Plinko. The studio releases a game every month. However, not all games are developed from scratch. Wicket Blast and Spin Strike, the last two releases, are based on cricket and the Indian Premier League. Crash X remains the most popular fast game in the Turbo Games portfolio, and the studio reports that crash games enjoy stable levels of popularity. Overall, the main focus of the brand is provably fair games.
More information: https://turbogames.io/
Baltics
Games Factory Talents has teamed up with Nordic Game to bring you Nordic Game Talents.
Looking to take your career to the next level in the games industry? Then, Nordic Game Talents is the place to be! Games Factory Talents has teamed up with Nordic Game to bring you Nordic Game Talents.
From Oct 27-29, the online and interactive event is dedicated to recruitment and career building in the creative & games industry within the Nordic region. The event empowers participants to be part of a bigger community and motivates them to explore new paths in achieving their career goals.
Hiring creative & games studios – Supercell, Funcom, Panzerdog, Tactile Games, Gamecan, Fingersoft, Dazzle Rocks, Redhill Games to name a few from the Nordic region will be participating in the event. These studios will share information on their latest projects, work culture and what it takes to be part of their team. The individual games associations from Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Estonia will share insights through live sessions on the booming games industry in their respective countries. Career development topics pertinent to job seekers like – How to have a successful first interview, Creative Portfolio reviews will also be discussed.
Experienced game industry professionals and individuals beginning their careers from around the world are welcome to join the event. One-to-one interviews with the hiring studios can be scheduled through the event platform. A great opportunity to get to know the studios and network with game professionals from around the world.
Participating in the event
As a job seeker attending Nordic Game Talents, take a few minutes to fill out a simple registration form. After filling the registration form you will receive a link to the online event platform – PINE, to join the event on 27th October. Participants joining Nordic Game Talents will also receive a free-of-charge pass to the Nordic Game Conference.
To view the complete agenda, please click here and to learn more about the event please visit Games Job Fair
About Games Factory Talents
A Helsinki-based talent attraction agency dedicated to the games & creative industry. Our services include direct recruitment, organizing game job fairs and managing a community of game industry professionals through our GameDev Talent Board.
To learn more about Games Factory Talents visit – Games Factory Talents
810 THE SPREAD
Cumulus Media Launches 810 THE SPREAD, the Bay Area’s First Sports Station Focused on Sports Betting
Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) announces that it has launched the Bay Area’s first Sports radio station focused on sports betting, 810 THE SPREAD. The new station brings sports and sports betting news, information, and insights to the burgeoning and underserved sports betting audience in San Francisco. 810 THE SPREAD will deliver behind-the-book perspectives from experts in a highly entertaining and engaging format. 810 THE SPREAD goes live today on the legendary 810am frequency that has been the 80-year home of historic Talk Radio KGO-AM. Cumulus San Francisco also launched the station’s new website at www.810thespread.com. Kevin Graham, Program Director of Cumulus’ sister sports stations KNBR 680AM/104.5FM and 1050 KTCT, adds Program Director duties for 810 THE SPREAD.
Larry Blumhagen, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus San Francisco, said: “810 THE SPREAD joins our sports brands KNBR 680AM/104.5FM and 1050 KTCT for a trifecta of dynamic sports content across four signals and streaming everywhere. We are excited about this new chapter and look forward to serving the Bay Area’s passionate sports fans in an incomparable way.”
Blumhagen added: “This is a bittersweet day for us, as it’s hard to say goodbye to the legendary KGO, which has been a part of listeners’ lives for so many years. We want to thank all the people who have been a part of KGO’s historic run these many years – and the listeners who loyally tuned in to the station. Times change, and we must change with them.”
Kevin Graham, Program Director, 810 THE SPREAD, said: “810 THE SPREAD will be the Bay Area’s best bet for sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts, and we are pleased to introduce sports-betting radio to our community. The station will feature a lineup of expert personalities that deliver unique sports talk and sports betting insights that entertain, inform, and engage, along with Cal Football and Basketball as well as select professional and college sports play-by-play events. While 810 THE SPREAD will feature specific gambling information, we believe our entertaining presentation will make it a favorite for all Bay area sports fans and a perfect complement to the legendary KNBR and KTCT. With its addition, it truly shows Cumulus’ commitment to the Bay area as ‘The Sports Leader’!”
The weekday programming lineup for 810 THE SPREAD includes:
6am-9am – Bet QL Daily – The must-consume show for sports fans and betting fans alike. Hosted by Joe Ostrowski, Joe Giglio, and Erin Hawksworth.
9am-12pm – Jim Rome - Aggressive, informed sports opinions, rapid-fire dialogue, and plenty of sports smack. As one of the most prolific sports talk hosts in America, Rome draws massive tune-in with legions of fans known as clones, who live for Rome’s take on the day’s largest issues in sports.
12pm-4pm – You Better You Bet – Nick Kostos and Ken Barkley have you covered for the best bets on the biggest matchups, the latest line movement and updates in the futures market. We’ll have up-to-the-minute coverage of backdoor covers and bad beats, and the cheers and tears that come with them. It’s sports betting conversation like you’ve never heard before.
4pm-8pm – Bet MGM Tonight – Live sports betting updates for all the night’s games as they happen – plus live “look-ins” for Major League Baseball games in progress. Get the latest scores, sides, totals, props, parlays, futures, and much more with hosts Quinton Mayo, Trysta Krick, and Ryan Horvat.
8pm-12 Midnight – CBS Sports Radio
BetQL Network programming is provided by Cumulus Media’s Westwood One through a partnership with Audacy.
For more information or to stream 810 THE SPREAD, visit: http://www.810thespread.com.
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