Ukraine plans to phase out the state lottery
The Ministry of Digital Transformation is working on a reform of the lottery market that would remove the very concept of a “state lottery” from the law. Instead of the current competitive bidding process, licenses may be sold through open auctions, and operators will be subject to stricter oversight.
This was announced by Zoryana Toporetska, head of the gambling and lottery policy division at the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
“Why are we removing the words ‘state lottery’? Because people associate a state lottery with the idea that it is organized by the state or is state property. The Law on State Lotteries, in essence, has nothing to do with the state. This is because lotteries are conducted by private lottery operators, and the whole point of state lotteries is that 50% of the funds collected go toward the prize fund, and they pay taxes just like other business entities,” Toporetska emphasized.
The representative of the Ministry of Digital Transformation noted that the market cannot accommodate a multitude of lottery operators, as was the case in the 1990s, when there were about 200 different operators and lotteries operating in Ukraine. The standard practice across Europe is to have one or two—at most three—lottery operators active in the market, all of whom have demonstrated their financial capacity, shown transparency in their structure, the absence of any risks related to money laundering or the legalization of proceeds from criminal activity, and have demonstrated the financial capacity to handle such a large sum of funds.
“…today, the annual cost of a license is exactly the equivalent of $500,000. We have set this equivalent as the minimum amount, and then, depending on the auction, whoever pays the most will receive the right to operate lotteries,” Toporetska emphasized.
According to her, the government’s draft bill on reforming the lottery market may be submitted to parliament in September.
Source: Ukrainian Radio
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