It hasn't been long since the Law on Amendments to Gambling Legislation came into force, but we can already see some results. Legislative innovations have begun to gradually transform the gambling market in Ukraine. One of the most important topics is advertising in this area. Despite the new regulations, certain issues still remain in this sector.
One of the obvious advantages of the changes is that now legal gambling organisers have more opportunities to advertise their activities. Due to the ban on legal advertising, the information space was filled with advertisements of illegal operators. Today, thanks to effective cooperation with such large companies as Meta and Google , government agencies are improving the effectiveness of fighting such advertising and blocking its distribution.
Of course, we need to remain pragmatic, as these processes have just begun and their results are rather modest, but the main thing is that they have been launched and tend to develop. Not in a couple of weeks or months, but in the long run, these measures will reduce the activity of illegal gambling operators in the gambling market and reduce their negative impact on the public, players and legal organisers.
However, despite the positive changes, there is an important problem in the field of advertising that has not yet been resolved: the unequal conditions for gambling and lottery advertising. Lotteries, which have significant advantages in this area, actually circumvent numerous restrictions and rules that regulate gambling advertising. Nevertheless, they imitate the same gambling activities on their platforms, usually without the appropriate licences.
Therefore, lotteries are free to advertise their illegal services, which are essentially identical to those of legal organisers. The latter, in order to comply with the law, have to adhere to a number of strict restrictions. I think there is no need to describe the economic imbalance that this creates in the market, as it is already quite clear and clearly does not add any motivation to legal organisers. Without legislative changes that would level the playing field for lottery operators and other gambling organisers, this gap will only widen.
That is why the issue of lotteries in terms of their licensing, taxation, and advertising control must be clearly resolved. First of all, the legislative approach to defining lotteries as a separate category of gambling business should be revised. This will resolve the issue of the unfair competitive advantage currently enjoyed by lotteries, as they earn "free" - without taxes and licence fees - on the very things that legal organisers have to pay tens or hundreds of millions of hryvnias for.
At the moment, it can be argued that although there are some steps in the right direction, further legislative changes are needed in the future. Unification of the rules of the game for all market participants will not only stabilise the market, but also ensure the development of transparent and fair competition. This is the only way to ensure that this area is truly regulated in a way that meets modern economic and legislative requirements, as well as the needs of the players.
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