Irina Sergienko: “Draft bill of the Ministry of Finance won’t bring the Ukrainian gambling business out of the shadow economy”

President of the Association of Gambling Industry, general director of All-Ukrainian Union on Bookmaking Development, and adviser of the Committee on Family, Youth and Sport of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Irina Sergienko expressed doubts regarding the draft bill on unshadowing of gambling business. The expert told about it at the First Ukrainian International Forum, dedicated to gambling.

According to Sergienko, the current draft version is aimed at the redistribution of the market, rather than development of transparent terms for legal activity of gambling operators. The expert believes that the existing draft bill won’t be supported by Verkhovna Rada.

Besides that, president of the Association of Gambling Industry criticized the Ministry of Finance. Sergienko noted that the current initiative does not take into account the public opinion, and is far from transparency principles.

Ukrainian people's deputy Dmitriy Dobrodomov holds the same opinion. On the official page in Facebook, he stated that draft bill №4663 was corrupted. Dobrodomov paid special attention to those provisions of the draft, where judgmental notions prevail.

People's deputy marks that nowadays the state of Ukrainian society is desperate. Part of the population is on the verge of poverty. The politician highlights that the enactment of the draft on legalization of gambling can lead to even bigger financial crisis.

People's deputy Pavel Kishkar also thinks that legalization of gambling in Ukraine is just a conventional notion. The most important thing is to develop clear procedures, which will be followed by all participants of the market without exceptions.

Minister of finance, Alexander Danilyuk, and first deputy minister Oksana Markarova also advocate the legalization. The majority of politicians hold to the opinion that gambling activity can substantially refill the state budget.

Slotegrator reminds that the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has developed a draft bill that envisages legalization of gambling activity in the country. The draft provides for adjustment of minimal registered capital available at the date of casino registration – €1 million in national currency.

New draft implies the creation of the state register of gambling institutions. It also envisagesthe introduction of restraints on gambling activities and providing protection of customers’ rights in the sphere of gambling.