One year later: How PlayCity transformed Ukraine's gambling industry
Illustrative photo: How PlayCity's first year changed the rules for the gambling business (Getty Images)
PlayCity's first year of operation demonstrated that regulation of Ukraine's gambling and lottery market can be digital, fast, and measurable. The changes are not limited to budget revenues — the entire approach to oversight has evolved. The state must be able to see a high-risk market through accurate data, respond quickly to violations, and protect people from gambling addiction.
RBC-Ukraine explained how the agency's first year transformed Ukraine's gambling market and helped bring it out of the shadows.
Rules must be clear, oversight must be constant, and accountability for violations must be fair. Otherwise, players, the state, and legal businesses lose, while the shadow market wins.
Over the first year of the reform, we saw that when the state regains control, the market begins to change. These results are easy to measure.
Licensing restored
Over the past year, PlayCity issued 250 licenses in the gambling sector, including:
- 11 licenses to gambling operators;
- 23 licenses to B2B companies;
- 213 licenses for gaming equipment;
- 3 licenses to lottery operators.
The last category is particularly significant. For the first time in more than 12 years, the lottery market has begun returning to a clearly regulated framework under state oversight. This alone generated more than UAH 72 million in additional licensing payments.
Money is not the only measure of reform, but it is a clear and measurable result.
The state received nearly UAH 17 billion in tax revenues from gambling operators in 2025 and more than UAH 3.48 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
The gambling industry also generated nearly UAH 2 billion in licensing revenues, while lottery operators paid more than UAH 72 million in licensing fees during PlayCity's first year. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, lottery operators paid more than UAH 74 million in taxes.
Illegal gambling market losing ground
The gambling market creates risks for both the state and players if left without effective oversight. However, the illegal market is even more dangerous: it pays no taxes, ignores responsible gaming requirements, fails to protect people from addiction, and constantly seeks ways to bypass state control.
For this reason, combating illegal gambling became one of the reform's key priorities.
During the year, PlayCity submitted more than 4,100 illegal gambling websites for blocking.
We established effective cooperation with Ukraine's communications regulator and reduced the time required to block websites to just 1 day after detection. Speed matters because the longer an illegal site remains online, the more people it can draw into unlawful gambling activities.
However, blocking a website does not mean an illegal online casino disappears forever. Operators quickly change domains, launch nearly identical copies, and resume operations under a new name. These copies are commonly known as "mirrors."
Last year, we automated the detection process and launched the Illegal Website Tracking System, which includes an algorithm that automatically identifies mirror sites of previously blocked platforms.
This changes the logic of enforcement. The state no longer reacts only to individual illegal websites but gradually gains visibility into entire networks of connected illegal resources.
At the same time, blocking alone is not enough. Illegal gambling relies not only on websites but also on financial infrastructure, advertising, and access to Ukrainian players.
That is why systematic cooperation with law enforcement agencies, particularly the Economic Security Bureau and the National Bank of Ukraine, remains crucial. This includes restricting payment channels used by illegal casinos, including schemes that disguise gambling transactions as other services.
The state's goal is to make illegal casino operations in Ukraine virtually impossible. Without stable websites, payment access, and the ability to attract new players without consequences, illegal operators will struggle to compete with licensed gambling businesses.
Fighting illegal gambling advertising
Illegal casinos most often find new players through social media, messaging platforms, streaming services, and aggressive promises of easy money.
Over the past year, PlayCity has requested the blocking of more than 700 social media accounts for illegal gambling advertising.
We also launched an online reporting tool and established cooperation with major digital platforms, including Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube, Viber, and Twitch.
Fines totaling nearly UAH 80 million have already been imposed for advertising law violations.
This is important not only for cleaning up the information space. For illegal operators, advertising is a key tool for finding new players, disguising their activities, and returning after website blocks.
Therefore, combating illegal advertising must go hand in hand with website blocking, financial oversight, and law enforcement action.
Oversight of the legal market
During PlayCity's first year, reporting compliance among gambling operators reached 100%.
In 2026, following a Ministry of Digital Transformation initiative and the government's lifting of the inspection moratorium, PlayCity conducted seven scheduled and four unscheduled inspections.
As a result, gambling operators were fined more than UAH 988 million for violations of industry regulations.
This sends a clear signal that PlayCity does not merely issue licenses but also monitors compliance with legal and licensing requirements.
Digital oversight
In April, the State Online Monitoring System entered pilot operation, with the first 12 operators connected.
Companies are transmitting test data, helping refine technical settings to ensure complete and accurate reporting of market transactions.
This is a highly complex infrastructure designed to monitor the operations of licensed operators in near real time.
The system can process more than 10,000 transactions per second and is scalable for future growth.
For the state, this reduces blind spots in a major sector of the economy. For businesses, it creates clear and equal market rules.
Work is also underway on the second phase of the system.
The upgraded version will provide deeper analytics, including monitoring gaming substitutes, controlling slot machine settings, and recording game results. All of this is aimed at improving player protection.
PlayCity has already entered the final stage of preparations for a tender to develop the second phase. It is a complex government IT project requiring secure data exchange, strong digital architecture, and long-term scalability.
We remain on schedule and intend to complete development by the end of the year.
Player protection becomes part of the reform
The most sensitive aspect of the reform is gambling addiction.
It is impossible to build a transparent market while ignoring people who lose control over their gambling behavior.
We are making self-exclusion simpler and more accessible. Anyone wishing to restrict their access to gambling should not have to go through a complicated bureaucratic process. That is why applications can be submitted online through a simple form on the PlayCity website.
In 2026, more than 3,000 people used this tool to restrict their access to legal gambling.
Together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, we introduced financial and time limits on gambling and approved responsible gaming principles.
The ministry also developed Ukraine's first national strategy to combat gambling addiction. The strategy brings together dozens of government institutions to ensure coordinated and effective action over the next decade.
The purpose of all these measures is to stop the problem before it destroys families or careers.
The first year of reform has shown that the gambling industry can be effectively regulated when the state acts quickly, relies on data, and leaves no room for the shadow market.
