The new rules, established by a decree of Ukraine’s State Security and Defense Council, came after Pavlo Petrichenko, a prominent activist and Ukrainian army soldier, launched a campaign calling attention to soldiers’ gambling addiction.
He called on V. Zelenskiy to introduce stricter control of online casinos. Mr. Petrichenko died in battle on April 15.
“Soldiers have been away from their families for the third year, under stressful conditions and without the opportunity to fully rest, so they are particularly psychologically vulnerable,” P. Petrichenko said in the text of the petition. “For many, gambling becomes the only way to deal with stress, which quickly leads to dopamine addiction and a weakening of self-control.”
“There are cases when addicted soldiers spend all their money on games and take out micro-loans, thus putting themselves and their families in debt,” explained P. Petrichenko.
According to the new rules, gambling operators will be forced to limit the duration of gambling sessions, the number of accounts that a user can register and the amount of money for gambling per day.
The restrictions will take effect in a month. However, some experts said that many of the restrictions contained in this order were already provided for in the Gambling Legalization Act. Ukraine adopted this law in 2020, after a decade-long ban.
Mykyta Bondariov, an expert in the Ukrainian gambling sector, emphasized that as early as 2020 the government prioritized budget revenue over curbing gambling addiction and reducing gambling-related crime and fraud, according to Politico.
“Legalize what you want, but you have to think about the people first,” said the Ukrainian. “Legalize what you as a state can effectively control and regulate.”
Therefore, according to M. Bondariov, it is unlikely that the new order will have a real impact, the Ukrainian government still has not created an effective monitoring system for online gambling.
According to the data of the Ukrainian Gambling and Lottery Regulatory Commission, in 2023 the number of people on the state register of gambling addicts increased from 450 to 3,700.
It is likely that this list does not reflect the true number, as it includes only those persons who voluntarily enter their name and surname or who are ordered to do so by the court.
However, Maksym Skubenko, CEO of the non-governmental organization VoxUkraine, which is currently fighting near Bakhmut, told Politico that the ban would not help.
“A ban might even make the situation worse,” he stressed, noting that illegal casinos already exist. He said a better solution would be to improve the financial literacy of soldiers.
Although Mr. Skubenko himself was never interested in online casinos, he recalled that while serving in the Territorial Defense Forces of the Kyiv region, several soldiers in his unit often played.
“Each unit must have a person who knows what is happening with the soldiers, what their psychological state is, what they read and what they play in their free time,” M. Skubenko explained to Politico. – The command should also identify what can be called the opinion leaders of the army and cooperate with them. Because other soldiers listen to them.”
The monthly salary of Ukrainian soldiers varies from 700 to 2350 euros, depending on the military rank and the results of combat activities. Meanwhile, the minimum wage in Ukraine is 190 euros.
Government of Ukraine in 2024 allocated more than 20 billion EUR of state funds for soldiers’ salaries is the largest part of the country’s defense costs, which Kyiv has to cover without foreign aid.
According to Politico inf. prepared by Diana Kuklis.
