Ukraine’s PlayCity, the State Agency responsible for gambling oversight, has revoked the license of SpaceX LLC, the company behind the Cosmolot brand, after auditors found violations of settlement rules, including the use of peer-to-peer payments.
PlayCity head Gennadiy Novikov said:
A license in the field of gambling provides for work according to the requirements established by law. Our task is to ensure constant and transparent supervision of licensees so that the market operates according to uniform rules for all participants.
Gambling activity in Ukraine is regulated under the Law “On State Regulation of Activities on the Organization and Conduct of Gambling.” The agency can issue financial penalties for violations and, in serious cases, revoke licenses.
Acting Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov said:
To make this control even more effective, the Ministry of Digital Transformation has developed amendments to the basic law on gambling. The goal is to further strengthen regulation in terms of betting, as well as to strengthen the requirements for checking gambling organizers.
In addition to losing its gaming license, Cosmolot was fined a total of UAH 12.9 million for violations involving p2p payment transactions and accepting deposits using third-party banking instruments.
After another licensed lottery company (PlayCity) was suspended from approval for lotteries pending further investigations into the legality of their business operations, Cosmolot’s suspension came shortly thereafter.
Cosmolot had only recently received a gaming license at the end of January of this year. There were originally only three approved lottery companies: Patriot, MSL and Ukrainian National Lottery. All three paid the mandatory license fee (UAH 24.2 million / $554,000), according to reports from Interfax-Ukraine.
With Cosmolot joining Patriot in losing their gaming licenses, PlayCity has temporarily suspended two licensed lottery operations. A review of all company licenses will occur as part of this crackdown, but there are also plans in place for a fully online licensing process that will replace the need for paper-based applications, queues and in-person visits.
The new system that is being developed by The Ministry of Digital Transformation and PlayCity will allow for companies to be registered via their personal accounts within a matter of minutes, using data obtained from a central data base of the State register, which is automatically checked rather than manually verified.
Last month, PlayCity and YouTube announced they would be partnering to develop a method of blocking illegal gambling advertisements.
