The Government has ruled out the possibility of distributing gambling business under the guise of state lotteries and launched a massive fight against illegal gambling. At night, there have been closed more than 150 establishments throughout Ukraine and seized equipment to the tune of UAH 46 million.

“There are only three lottery operators in Ukraine. However, this does not prevent tens of hundreds of establishments across the country from engaging in gambling, prohibited by law, using lotteries as a cover. How does it work? These establishments enter into distribution agreements with the state lottery operators. Behind these contracts they install “gambling machines” on the territory of the establishment, thereby violating the law. We halt these schemes,” stressed Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk.

Therefore, in license conditions, the Government has abolished the possibility for operators to conclude distribution agreements.

The Head of Government has commissioned the National Police to start a massive verification of the activities of all state lottery operators on compliance with the law on the prohibition of gambling. And the State Fiscal Service (SFS) to arrange for the review of licenses of all so-called "state lotteries".

"Every day a huge number of people suffer from the existence of these gambling machines, they lead to family conflicts and broken lives. We want to protect those addicted to it,” the Prime Minister emphasized.