Casinos in Ukraine

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Introduction

Ukraine was on the brink of putting together a regulated casino industry before Russia’s invasion in 2022. Leading up to that gambling was outlawed for over a decade. The 2009 ban was put in place after a fire in a gambling hall in Dnipro that killed nine people and shocked the nation. Ukrainian Parliament passed the "Gambling Ban Law," after the tragedy which effectively shut down the gambling industry, even internet casinos. Lotteries were not affected by the new law.

This prohibition lasted until 2020 when Parliament decided to legalize gambling again, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signing the law that regulated and organized the new gambling industry. An age restriction of at least 22 years old was put in place. Local and foreign operators were invited to join in on the nascent industry with the explicit exception of Russian businesses whether the Russian people were owners or simply involved in the business. Progress stopped for the most part when the country was invaded and war broke out.

Kyiv was home to many online game developers and others whose work went into land-based slots. 

History of Gambling in Ukraine

Gambling in Ukraine has a history of chaos as it has vacillated between prohibition and reform. The 2009 ban came as a possible overreaction to a fatal fire in a gaming hall that raised concerns about safety and regulation, but online casinos were banned too. Gambling was mostly unregulated before that, and the tragedy seemed to force the government to act quickly. Former president Viktor Yushchenko signed the law that officially banned all types of gambling, with an exception in place for lotteries.

Poker tournaments found a way to thrive despite the ban by rebranding the game as a sport rather than gambling. The Ukrainian Ministry of Justice removed poker from its list of recognized sports in 2009 to close the self-invented loophole. After gambling was legalized again in 2020 poker was once again recognized as a gambling game even though the arguments relating to the amount of skill needed versus the amount of luck needed to win will likely never go away. Tournaments were allowed under the new Ukrainian regulations.

The 2020 law included an edict to establish gaming zones wherein gambling activities would be allowed while still prohibiting casinos or slot halls from being placed just anywhere in the country. The zones were very limiting and included requirements like the venue being a four-star or better hotel with at least 100 rooms. Entertainment complexes were also acceptable locations as were large ships that met some other very strict and specific requirements.

Legislation and Jurisdiction

Ukraine set very clear rules to ensure transparency and fair competition in the market with the law of 2020. The restriction on Russian ownership was one very important part of the legislation that was negotiated fairly early in the process to win over key lawmakers. The prohibition stated that no gambling operation could be owned or controlled by a Russian national or have shareholders in countries blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), including countries like North Korea and Iran.

As in almost every other modern gambling market, operators also had to meet strict financial requirements. One of these was a requirement of share capital of at least $1.1 million and a deposit account or bank guarantee of $1.2 million - but not from just any bank, it had to be from a Ukrainian bank. All legal gambling operators were required to have a dot.ua domain name (for example; xxx.Kyiv_Casino.ua), to make sure their operations were based locally and and could be traced and held accountable within the Ukrainian jurisdiction.

The law allowed for as many as 40,000 slots to be approved in hotels throughout the country.

Several companies had obtained licenses to operate by the early part of 2021. Spacex LLC was the first when it launched its Cosmolot brand. Other generally known names in the industry like Parimatch had already established itself as a significant player in the betting vertical and others like Gamedev LLC. As the field began to fill in with operators the government expected to generate significant revenue through licensing fees.

One expectation noted by the government was for the newly revitalized industry to contribute about 6 billion Ukrainian hryvnia (USD 212 million at the then-current exchange rate) to the budget. Not an insignificant sum, especially for a country that had a GDP per capita of only $3,780.39 at the time, putting it about on par with Congo or Haiti after plummeting about 30% due directly to the pandemic.

Popular Spots and Games

The Billionaire Casino at the five-star InterContinental Kyiv in the Ukraine capital was reopened in 2021 after a major refurbishment of the VIP gaming space. It was a boutique casino with about 5,000 square feet of gaming space but the interior was opulently appointed and on par with anything you would find in Monte Carlo. The InterContinental building was constructed in the 1600s and maintains its old-world charm. The elegant venue was outfitted by Italy’s Abbiati Casino Equipment.

FavBet held a grand opening at the Mercure Kyiv Congress Hotel in January 2022. It was the largest casino in the country. Shortly after the full-scale invasion failed to capture the capital, they reopened their doors for a time and in September 2022 it was the only full-scale casino in operation at the time. The casino can comfortably host about 500 visitors at a time in five distinct spaces: a main hall with live games and slots, three VIP rooms, and a dedicated slot hall with a stage, a large bar, and a restaurant. Unfortunately, their last social media post was posted in February 2024. It does appear that the bookmaker for FavBet still maintains an agency office in the capital.

There might still be poker clubs operating as pop-ups but the ones we tried to visit online did not have any recent footprints.

Gambling Club Kyiv opened in 2001. Full House Kyiv drew poker fanatics in from around the country. It was located near the Naberezhne Highway and Hotel Khreschatyk. Full House welcomed players of all levels.

Full House had regular tournaments in games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Open-Face Chinese poker. The club had a friendly, fair-play atmosphere according to past visitors, and added to its value with amenities like a café and buffets for special events. There was free parking and it was less than 10 kilometers from Kyiv International Airport,

In Odessa, you had Win Poker Club. It was situated along Derybasivska Street and had its own local following before its last Facebook post in 2019. The current status of these clubs is unclear.

Conclusion

Ukraine’s legalized gambling history is marked by turbulence, upheaval, and tragedies. Most recently it went from a total ban in 2009 to a thoughtful and careful reintroduction of well-regulated casinos and betting centers online and on land in 2020. The country was on the edge of a new era, building a solid regulated gambling industry before the Russian invasion. Popular spots like FavBet, and BIllionaire Casino along with well-visited poker houses like Full House Kyiv and Gambling Club Kyiv show that the country was already embracing the newly reformed industry and people were eager to play.

As fate would have it though, the war has forced progress to a halt, and the future of Ukraine’s gambling industry is anything but certain. The good news for times of peace is that the groundwork has already been laid and the framework is in place for a profitable and well-regulated gambling industry once stability returns to the land of the sunflower.