Victoria, how did you become the head of the Ukrainian Gambling Association?
I accepted the offer made by the founder of the Gambling Association of Ukraine Anton Kuchukhidze. He considered different candidates and settled on me. Because my activity coincides with the goals of the organization. I am an expert in communications, and since last year I have been a postgraduate student at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, writing my Ph.D. thesis on the legalization of gambling in three countries: Ukraine, Great Britain and Belarus. Probably, it was my scientific activity that allowed me to take the position of the head of the Gambling Association. I haven’t done gambling before, I’m a strategic communications specialist. I moved to Ukraine in 2015 and founded a strategic communications agency, worked as an individual consultant. And my clients are mainly clients who are passed on to me by my Western colleagues.
What are the goals of the Gambling Association? What are you planning to analyze or develop?
First of all, the Gambling Association was called upon to unite specialists in the gambling industry, that is, individuals. After all, its form is precisely a public association that can only be accepted by individuals, but not legal ones. Now with the creation of the public association UGC, the possibility of accepting legal entities has appeared. During the discussion, we realized that it makes no sense to dissolve the Gambling Association of Ukraine, but on the contrary, it makes sense to strengthen the institutionalization of the organization in this area. After all, experts are working here in the direction of debunking the myths about the legalization of the gambling business concerning taxation and social responsibility of this business. We will continue to invite experts who wish to join us. So far, we see the continuation of our activity in the same context - this is analytical and informational activities to support the shadowing of the gambling market and the Ukrainian economy as a whole. We are already preparing a new analytical product that will appear regularly. We want to take this product away from taxation topics and purely legal issues because they will be dealt with more by specialists working in companies. And they will be able to move the dialogue with the state in this direction. We want to focus on social responsibility and responsible gaming. As of today, practically nothing is known about these topics. Now everyone is trying to put pressure on the tax issue in various branches of government. Therefore, I think we will have relevant topics to deal with them and continue to generate positive balanced information about the gambling market.
Gambling Association of Ukraine became the first member of the newly created UGC. How will the cooperation take place?
We see ourselves as the analytical and informational wing of the UGC. We will prepare a product for UGC, but, of course, access to it will be open to specialists, the media, and the public. Furthermore, we will make a product with different access levels. Our main partners will receive the full version, while other audiences will receive a stripped-down version. Our goal is to assist in increasing balanced information about the best gambling practices, and the progress of legalization in Ukraine. We strive to become a source of information for the market, the media, and society. Maybe our recommendations will be accepted at the state level as well. But the main thing is that we would like to add additional topics that the civilized gambling market should raise today. Therefore, we will together continue to advance the agenda of a legal, transparent, fair gambling market that works in the interests of the state and society.
Interview especially for Gamingpost.net
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