Fictitious legalization of casinos in Ukraine
Potential gambling operators and gamblers living in the former Soviet republic are very disappointed with the proposed bill on legalization of casinos. As one of the political scientists of Ukraine A. Kuchukhidze stated, what is proposed today by the Cabinet of Ministers of the country is not aimed at official permission of the gambling business, but at its burial. The excellent initiative of the new president is distorted beyond recognition.
The fact is that the bill proposed by the state ministers suggests collecting such taxes from participants providing gambling services that hardly anyone in their right mind would agree to it. As a result, the parliament and the government cannot come to a consensus.
In addition, the cost of licenses is also at a fantastic level. The political scientist says that few are able to pay half a billion hryvnia for permission to provide gambling services. Does the government really think that casino operators and bookmakers should work at a loss?
According to most experts, if the law is adopted in its current form, almost all operators will prefer to remain in the shadows. That is, so-called pseudo-legalization will occur, which is disadvantageous to any party except lottery organizers. Most likely, the incident occurred due to the haste in which legislators discussed and adopted the bill. Apparently, they sought to fulfill the president's order as quickly as possible and did not think at all about the content of the law.
The experience of Europe, which Ukraine has recently been trying to emulate, has not been taken into account at all. Initially, a very low level of taxation for casino operators and bookmakers was proposed there, which has been growing over time. In Ukraine, they decided to take the bull by the horns and immediately proposed to charge exorbitant amounts of money for a fairly risky business. We must not forget that today there are not many citizens in the country who are ready to come to a casino and spend money.
If the state is truly interested in legalizing gambling, it should review as quickly as possible everything that currently hinders the normal development of the gambling business.
