In an effort to earn more revenues, the government of Ukraine is reportedly preparing to offer legal gambling activities, based on information included in a letter published by the Ministry of Finance.
A letter was sent by, Aleksandr Danilyuk, the Ukraine Ministry of Finance to the International Monetary Fund head, Christine Lagarde, which detailed the plans of the government to qualify for financial assistance of $17.5 billion. Just last week, the country received the first installment of assistance in the amount of $1 billion. The letter was signed by several individuals including the president of the Ukraine, the prime minister, finance minister and the national bank president.
The details of the letter suggested that the government is ready to go ahead with plans to legalize gambling in the country with the activities able to provide additional revenue to the budget no later than next year.
Draft legislation was actually introduced in the Ukraine in 2015 that would have seen land-based casinos created along with sports betting and a new national lottery. Even online gambling was in the mix. The next year, the government reported that the country should be able to generate around $1.5 billion a year but operators did not agree with the licensing fees and tax rates so the legislation was a flop.
The Ukrainian Gaming Industry Association was created late last year and consists of individuals who are local industry stakeholders in an effort to help the government create legislation that would consider the standards and practices used internationally.
