Ukraine’s Operators Pool Efforts to Identify and Flag Illegal Operators

A scandal rocked the highest echelons of the Ukrainian gambling industry after KRAIL, the former regulator, was accused of playing favors with illegal operators with ties to Russia. Much like other jurisdictions, Ukraine has been no exception in facing the onslaught of illegal gambling websites, even though the regulated market is booming.

Techies Put Their Heads Together to Cut Black Market Reach

Now, a new group bringing together Ukrainian IT professionals will seek to create software and other solutions that allow them to identify and track illegal gambling sites operating on Ukraine’s territory. The group has a reported combined staff of 900 techies who will seek to crack down on the sector, in what may be the first operator-led push against the black market.

Ukraine’s IT sector has strong credentials, dealing with cyber warfare, drone operations, and cutting-edge innovation, and this same zeal can now be directed at uprooting illegal gambling. The consideration for allocating such a resource is patriotic as well, as Russia is using illegal gambling websites to gather funds from unsuspecting Ukrainians to fund its war against the country.

The group is not going to go it alone, as the techies will work as part of a joint operation with PlayCity, the newly-formed watchdog that replaced the disgraced KRAIL, as well as SBU, the Security Service of Ukraine, both of which have shown willingness to uproot illegal gambling, seeing it as a conduit of Russian influence on Ukrainians, but also financially harming the country.

Automation will be key in the way the newly formed group addresses illegal gambling websites, with automatic alerts requesting blocking orders in those cases when a website is identified as an illegal entity in the country.

Ukraine Determined to Uproot Illegal Gambling

President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly issued blocking orders and bans against individual entities, and sometimes caught prominent brands in the crossfire. PIN-UP, a global operator, was recently targeted by the regulator and has said that it will go to court to prove that the charges against it are unfounded.

In the meantime, PlayCity is working on bringing the full ecosystem up, which also includes a special self-exclusion register, which had to be relaunched citing the KRAIL’s poor efficiency, and fears of data breaches.

Hennadiy Novikov, who will be leading PlayCity, comes from the previous regulator where he served as deputy head, but has been entrusted by the industry and state head to lead the reformed watchdog all the same.