Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced his intention to re-legalize gambling, in particular, to allow casinos in five-star hotels.
At the Ukrainian-Turkish business forum during his official visit to Turkey, he promised to legalize the operation of casinos, the UNIAN reports.
"We will legalize gambling, namely, the operation of casinos in five-star hotels, which will stimulate the development of the region's tourism cluster near the Black Sea. We also want to grow together here,” he said. “Therefore, we want to see Turkish businesses as our partners rather than competitors.”
All kinds of gambling, including slot machines, bookmaking, online gambling, and interactive gambling, were made illegal ten years ago after a May 2009 fire in a gambling hall in Dnipropetrovsk killed nine people. In practice, however, gambling businesses operate in the shadow and the public has easy access to it, while the state has virtually no control in that sector.
In May 2016, however, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine submitted to the Verkhovna Rada bill No. 4663 on the legalization of gambling and a system of control over the organization of casinos, betting and lotteries.
According to experts, the budget of Ukraine may receive an additional revenue of about UAH 10 billion (US$394.32 million) in case of gambling legalization.