The ministers of Ukraine's parliament approved a secondary decree “on the formation of a gambling and lottery commission”. It will serve as the state’s legal entity to monitor gambling activities under licensing.
The UGLC will be operating with regulatory limits, legislative authority, structuring, and funding. It will all be about handling licensing controls from here on out before the Ukraine government launches the federal regulated gambling marketplace.
They will also be responsible for monitoring operators and their compliance against the market’s conduct and fulfillment of regulatory requirements that go under the licensing agreements.
The decree noted that the UGLC will be permitted to carry out enforcement procedures within its remit, but underlined that the agency held no powers to conduct criminal proceedings.
Managing partner of CIS law firm 4H Agency, Ilya Machavariani, made the following review: “It remains unclear what kind of decisions would be permissible for UGLC to make and what kind of decisions UGLC is going to make. However, UGLC most certainly would not be able to override provisions of the Law,”
The parliament approved proposals which stated that the UGLC will be led by an “agency director” serving a four-year term, who will be voted on by the Cabinet of Ministers in accordance with the Gambling Law. The agency director will be limited to two terms leading the UGLC.
Ukraine’s government confirmed that it will establish a new Kyiv office which will be home to the UGLC and its executive team of six members, who will be tasked with developing ‘regional units’ monitoring gambling activities.
Machavariani added: “The UGLC powers appear to be declarative owing to the decree’s nature – they sound more like objectives or goals rather than actual legislative instruments; however the decree communicates an important message that Ukraine is looking to create a new and transparent international market.”
