Ukrainian Entertainment Niche: Legislative Changes in 2025

The authorities are introducing measures to strengthen control over the betting market. The purpose of the innovations is to protect users and legal operators, as well as to intensify the fight against illegal casino sites.

General State of Affairs in the Market

The casino niche is a promising sector of the economy, which was legalised in 2020.

The regulator immediately allowed all types of activities: the opening of offline and virtual establishments, the launch of sportsbook brands, and the organisation of lottery draws. Sports poker was not considered gambling and did not fall under Law No. 768-IX.

Currently, the local industry is showing impressive growth rates:

• UAH 10.4 billion is the total amount of taxes and fees that the casino business transferred to the treasury by the end of 2025. This is 51 times more than 3 years ago.
• UAH 8.4 billion is the tax revenues for the first half of 2025. They have almost doubled compared to the same period in 2023.
• UAH 12–15 billion is the average monthly turnover of the gambling segment. The data is comparable to construction, tourism, and other highly liquid sectors of the economy.

The main source of budget filling is levies and fees. Thus, in 2025, the tax on profits of the entertainment niche increased by 7.3 times compared to the previous reporting period. Revenues from PIT increased by 26.1%.

The state treasury is also replenished thanks to licensing fees. Any operator who plans to provide betting services in Ukraine must get permission. The document must be issued for each type of activity, whether it is the acceptance of bids on sports or launch of an online casino. The certificate is issued for 5 years.

Legalisation of the gaming sphere develops related sectors of the economy, including tourism, construction, service industries, etc. Thanks to this, thousands of jobs are created, large investment projects are implemented, and budget revenues increase.

Activities of the Local Regulator

It controls the entertainment niche and performs several tasks, such as:

• issuance of permits to operators;
• monitoring of the entrepreneurs’ compliance with their assigned duties;
• prevention of illegal activities in the industry;
• filling the state budget through licence fees and other types of income.

The regulator is the country’s main control authority. Its competence includes a wide range of missions but the main one is the fight against illegal online casinos and betting shops. In the first half of 2025 alone, the commission blocked 379 illegal platforms. Most of them worked on recursive DNS servers and occupied 2.5 thousand domain names.

Another important task of the legislative body is to protect the players’ rights. Several feedback options are published on the regulator’s official website. With their help, customers can file complaints against establishments (land-based or online ones) that, in their opinion, have violated the rules of fair and responsible gaming.

The commission immediately investigates the incident. If there are violations on the part of the operator, then fines may be imposed on him.

On the official website, you can also find a register of licensed Ukrainian casinos and other services. The list of legal digital portals is constantly updated and monitored by the regulator.

At the beginning of 2025, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced that the government was considering reorganising the authority's activities.

The key point is the automation of the issuance of certificates without the commission's direct participation. Licence applications will be possible through the Unified State Portal of Electronic Services.

Thus, the regulator's list of tasks will partially change, and it will be able to devote more time to protecting users’ rights.

Focus on Responsible Gaming

Supporting fair and safe placement of bets is a key task of the government. It is actively fighting underground establishments and offshore sites. Besides, the legislative body is creating conditions for the fair and transparent work of reliable operators.

In April 2025, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky put into effect the document aimed at countering the negative impact of wagering on the Internet. Decree No. 234/2024 was published on the state portal on the same day.

Let us consider the key points of the normative legal act:

Advertising Restrictions

The regulator has introduced a ban on casino promotion aimed at military personnel and their families.

Marketing activities cannot use the symbols of the Ukrainian Armed Forces or any other related symbols. Another change is a ban on any ads or assistance in the form of charitable contributions to military personnel from gaming market participants.

User Verification

The authorities have banned entrepreneurs from registering various accounts for one person.

Soldiers, as well as individuals whose expenses exceed official income for the reporting period, will not be allowed to place bets. The authentication is planned to be delegated to the NBU and banks with the organisation’s licence.

At the moment, deposits in casino and sportsbook locations cannot be made by:

• gamers included in the register of people who suffer from ludomania;
• clients under the age of 21;
• citizens who have alimony debt;
• incapacitated and partially incapable persons.

Additional Limits

Legal operators must:

• determine the maximum time of continuous participation in casino games per day for customers;
• add mandatory breaks;
• set a spending limit for one player per day (1 or 4 weeks) with a review once every month.

Recommendations for Banks

Key changes:

• prohibition on accepting dual-use goods (for example, drones or thermal imagers) as a pledge;
• blocking of settlements via credit funds in the accounts of casino and betting shop owners;
• ban on the use of more than one bank account by a visitor to iGaming platforms.

The Ministry must also hold trilateral talks with Apple and Google. The purpose of the discussions is to forbid the placement of entertainment products without a local licence in the branded applications of IT corporations (App Store and Play Market).

Fair and Open Market

The government plans to strengthen control over the industry:

1. Reliable online monitoring. A special system will track all entrepreneurs’ transfers, identify risky operations, and check the timeliness of tax payments. The correctness of the calculation of levies on the winnings of individuals will also be verified using software.
2. Updated requirements. These are additional criteria for cancelling permits and assessing the reputation of companies. The plans also include the development of systematised standards for the B2B sector (entertainment service suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and hosting providers).
3. Effective protection methods. The Cabinet of Ministers and its specialised committees must develop compensation mechanisms for affected players. These are customers who were not given the opportunity not to place bets, despite their self-restraint.

The Main Things about Legal Changes in the Gaming Niche

Both digital and offline casino formats are considered legitimate in Ukraine.

Key aspects that entrepreneurs need to take into account:

• The special commission controls the local sector. The regulator accepts applications, issues licences, and participates in dispute resolution between operators and their clients. The authority also monitors budget revenues in the form of taxes and fees.
• The authorities are constantly working to improve the existing legal framework. At the beginning of the year, new advertising restrictions and additional limits for players were introduced. The procedure for verifying casino visitors was changed as well. Banks received several recommendations to prevent the placement of bets at the expense of loan funds.

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