The issue of the massive nature of gambling addiction is often raised and hyped by populists. The goal of these media attacks is simple and clear: to discredit the legal gambling market and divert attention from illegal operators, who are the main source of gambling addiction in Ukraine. However, they are usually unable to provide at least some reasonable justification, let alone statistics. The favourite thesis about "half the country being a gambling addict" is disproven by a quick glance at official statistics.
On 13 January, the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) published official statistics on the number of gambling addicts in the register of persons who are restricted from accessing gambling facilities and/or participating in gambling. These statistics clearly show that there is no large-scale problem with gambling addiction.
Thus, in 2024, CRGL, together with gambling organisers, submitted information about 9,389 people into the Register. Given that, according to the figures before the large-scale invasion of rashists, the potential number of gamblers was almost 1.4 million, the number of gambling addicts registered this year is 0.67% of their total. As of 1 January 2025, the Register contains information on 11,593 people.
Another interesting fact is that 98.5% of the entries in the Register (for 9,250 people) were made on the basis of self-restriction statements. That is, players, realising their gambling problems, applied directly to the CRGL or submitted such applications through legal gambling organisers. Another 139 applications were submitted by relatives of players. This indicates two important aspects.
- The self-restriction mechanism introduced by CRGL is working and can be used by both players and their relatives.
- In the vast majority of cases, players are aware of their problems on their own, which indicates a fairly high level of awareness of this problem and a conscious approach to the game in general.
Of course, these calculations have certain caveats, as the war makes it difficult to obtain accurate data on the demographics of Ukraine and the actual number of players. Moreover, even a few dozen people with gambling addiction per million players is not a small number, because behind each case there is a separate human fate, certain circumstances that led to addiction. That is why, instead of manipulating the issue of gambling addiction by some politicians and media, it would be much more appropriate to take effective measures to combat this phenomenon, especially in the context of limiting the presence of illegal operators, including lotteries, in the gambling market, as the technical capabilities for this exist.
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