November 15 became an important day for the gambling business in Ukraine. This Friday, the Verkhovna Rada planned to vote in the first reading for the bill on the legalization of gambling. Moreover, the deputies were offered a choice of eight options at once. However, the vote did not take place...
According to GamingPost’s information, the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy (headed by Daniil Getmantsev) weighed all the pros and cons and decided to withdraw from consideration all bills on the legalization of gambling - No.2285 and its alternative versions. (It is noteworthy that the same fate befell another scandalous bill No.1210, which was considered in the same financial committee.)
The refusal of the deputies can be considered as a small victory for all who opposed the submitted bills on the legalization of gambling. Let us remind you that representatives of the gambling market, experts and the public sharply criticized the bill No.2285 and its version. And many deputies admitted that the document was "crude" and required revision.
Well, now we will monitor whether the developers of the draft laws will take into account the proposals of the business and what amendments they will make to their documents. When they will be put to the vote is not yet known. After November 15, the Rada goes on a two-week break and will resume meetings on December 2. Thus, by canceling the vote, the deputies did not fulfill the president's task, who instructed the Verkhovna Rada to accept a law on the legalization of gambling by December 1st of this year. Apparently, things are not going well with the draft laws, if the deputies dared to "contradict" the president.
The GamingPost website will take the courses of events and keep you informed of all important news.
In the meantime, let us briefly recall the parliamentary epic around the bills, so that you once again make sure that there are big problems with the legalization of gambling in Ukraine.
On October 17th, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration a bill No.2285 "On State Regulation of Activities for the Organization and Conducting of Gambling." This document caused a flurry of criticism, about which we wrote on several occasions.
For a long time it seemed that bill No.2285 would be the only one of its kind, and it would either be put to a vote or sent for revision. However, over the course of only three days (November 5-7), the deputies submitted seven more (!) bills for registration to the Verkhovna Rada.
Why the authors of the alternative bills delayed so long (almost to the last minute) is a big mystery. It is significant that there are six variants from the “Sluga Naroda” faction. For many experts, this became a clear hint that someone simply wants to create the appearance of active work on the problem of legalizing of gambling in Ukraine.
We bring to your attention links to all bills - look and draw your own conclusions.
№2285 Cabinet of Ministers
№2285-1 Oleg Marusyak ("Sluga naroda")
№2285-2 Roman Mulyk, Vadim Strunevich (both– "Sluga naroda")
№2285-3 Alexander Dubinsky ("Sluga naroda")
№2285-4 Taras Tarasenko ("Sluga naroda")
№2285-5 Natalya Korolevskaya, Yuri Solod (both– OPFL)
№2285-6 Dmitry Natalukha ("Sluga naroda")
№2285-7 Anna Lichman ("Sluga naroda")
