Head of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko announced that as of Today, 75 Ukrainian hotels have applied for a new category in order to be able to organize a casino. A number of them are applying for accreditation for the first time.

There are nine hotels on this list that are striving for the highest category - "five stars". Four of them are located in Kyiv, and the rest - in other large cities of the country. On March 16, a special accreditation commission of the Ministry of Culture will consider the relevant applications.

After this information appeared in the media, Ukrainian gambling market experts stated that such a massive desire of local hotel complexes to obtain the highest category is directly related to the provisions of the current gambling legislation. According to the norms of the document, land-based casinos and slot machine halls can only be located on the territory of hotels and hotels that have at least four stars. At the same time, in the capital of Ukraine, gambling facilities are allowed to be opened only in luxury hotels (5 stars).

However, even the status of a luxury hotel complex is not a guarantee of obtaining the appropriate permission from the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries of Ukraine (KRAIL).

Recently, the regulator refused to issue Kharkiv Palace, the best hotel in Kharkov licenses to organize a casino due to the fact that the technical passport of the building contained false information. Subsequently, CRAIL, after re-considering the application, nevertheless issued the appropriate permit to the object of the well-known Ukrainian businessman Alexander Yaroslavsky.

It is worth noting that the Commission approved plans to open the first two land-based casinos in Ukraine in Odessa and Lvov. The first legal gambling establishment in Odessa will be located in the Gagarinn hotel complex. The Lviv casino will begin to receive visitors on the basis of the Grand Hotel Lviv.

Recall that Merkur Gamingofficially entered on the gambling market of Ukraine.