Lotteries are gambling! And the vast majority of Ukrainians understand this, as evidenced by the results of a recent public opinion poll conducted by sociological service of the Razumkov Centre. In particular, according to the survey, 63% of Ukrainians believe that lotteries are the same kind of gambling as casinos or sports betting, and therefore they should pay taxes on the same level as online casinos and betting.
For the fifth year in a row, since the gambling market returned to the legal framework, we have been saying that all market participants should operate under the same conditions, and that lotteries are an integral part of the domestic gambling market, which for some unknown reason has not yet become such according to the law.
Why is it important: Only compliance with the uniform rules of the game will ensure the development of domestic gambling, guarantee foreign investments from the world's leading companies, minimise corruption risks and pose a real obstacle to the shadowing of certain segments of the industry.
In addition, the existence of uniform rules of the game is perhaps the main safeguard against the use of various fraudulent tax evasion schemes through the use of loopholes in legislation or the existence of contradictory provisions of the current legislation.
If some consider this to be a fantastic assumption, because "it never happens", it is worth recalling that from June 2009, when the Law of Ukraine "On the Prohibition of Gambling Business in Ukraine" came into force, and until January 2011, when the Law of Ukraine "On Patenting Certain Types of Business Activities" (Article 5 of which defined the procedure for acquiring a trade patent for operations in the field of gambling) expired, Ukraine experienced a unique legal conflict, which meant that for about a year and a half, the provisions of two different laws were simultaneously in force, the provisions of which were diametrically opposed in content. One law allowed gambling activities, while the other prohibited them.
This resulted in a significant increase in corruption in the law enforcement system and local governments, which were able to interpret and use the provisions of the two laws in their own way. And the shadow gambling market was able to adapt to the changed legislation and find opportunities to make a profit even after the official ban on the gambling market, using the peculiarity of regulating lotteries, which were not considered gambling even then.
Unfortunately, attempts to continue using the experience of those times have not subsided to this day, as lotteries are still regulated by a separate Law of Ukraine "On State Lotteries in Ukraine", which has been in force since 2012. This is what allows us to constantly return to the negative practices of the past in the gambling sector and provokes the growth of the shadow gambling market.
Therefore, the legalisation of gambling will be completed when the lottery is recognised as a game of chance and its organisers finally start paying for licences and being taxed like the rest of the gambling business - according to the same rules and regulations.
And when this happens, the level of revenues to budgets of all levels from lottery activities will be no less than that of the gambling business today, and maybe even higher. Additional UAH 10+ billion will definitely not be superfluous for the state and local budgets. Ukrainians are aware of this, so maybe it's time for MPs to pay attention to sociological data?
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