The gambling services market of Ukraine continues its development and gradual legalization. Official representatives of the industry and many politicians argue that this area will become one of the growth engines of the state economy in the coming years. According to their information, even today Ukrainian gambling is an important component of filling the treasury.

However, the statistics do not show such a rosy picture. According to the information presented in a number of media, since the beginning of this year, Ukraine has received about 900 million hryvnia (about 2.4 billion rubles) from the sale of gambling licenses. At the same time, at the end of 2020, Boris Baum, First Deputy Head of the Advisory and Expert Council of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRAIL) of Ukraine, said at his press conference that the draft tax collection for 2021 included a figure of UAH 7.4 billion from representatives of the gambling business.

“We are forced to state that the amount of taxes from the gambling entertainment industry, unfortunately, depends on the reform of the relevant laws. Now, when the Tax Code has a number of problems, we cannot achieve the planned amount of revenue from market representatives. This year it is no longer possible to realize the presented figures,” admitted Boris Baum.

Moreover, specialized information resources that closely follow the work of CRAIl have completely different data. So, as of July 13, 2021, the regulator issued a total of 26 gambling licenses. For them, the state budget received 636 million hryvnias (about 1.7 billion rubles), which is almost 6.8 billion hryvnias below the forecast value.

Such disappointing statistics arose due to the fact that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has for several months has been unable to adopt amendments to bill 2713-d, which regulates taxes for the local gambling business. Now the fiscal norm for gambling operators in Ukraine varies from 10% to 30%. However, the new draft law provides for a single tax of 10% of the turnover of companies.

A number of parliamentarians believe that this document will have a negative impact on the income of the Ukrainian treasury, and its norms will only help restore the positions of the "shadow" market. 686

Напомним, в Украине официально opened in Ukraine the register of citizens who have restricted access to gambling.