The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, spoke about the problem of online casinos during his last speech. In his statement, he emphasized the need to strengthen control over the online gambling industry. According to the head of state, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Ministry of Digital Transformation and other well-known agencies are actively developing appropriate steps to control and regulate this industry.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, declared his readiness to implement measures in the sphere of control over the work of online casinos, which will enable the protection of the interests of Ukrainians. The head of state announced this in his evening video address on April 2.
"Held a meeting with the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital, State Special Communications and the secretary of the National Security Council regarding the situation with online casinos. The reports were meaningful. We are preparing appropriate steps that will add the necessary control over the industry and help protect the interests of society properly," Zelenskyi said.
Last week, the President of Ukraine responded to a military serviceman's petition to ban online casinos, in particular, he instructed the heads of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the Secretary of the National Security Council to present all the analytics on this issue and propose a solution.
Ludomania problem in the ZSU
On March 28, People's Deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko said that the military, instead of investing the money they earn in housing, lose it in casinos. He stated that allegedly 9 out of 10 Ukrainian defenders suffer from gambling addiction (ludomania). Stanislav Bunyatov, the commander of the 24th OSHB branch of the Aydar Armed Forces, denied that only "rear" soldiers suffer from boredom.
A different opinion is held by the commander of the UAV department in the 59th OMPBr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Pavlo Petrychenko, who created a petition to the president. He stated that servicemen, who have been away from their families for the third year, unable to rest properly and under constant stress, are psychologically vulnerable.
One of the Ukrainian defenders shared a story of online casino games on social networks. According to him, the chief sergeant of the unit "got hooked" on such games and first "deducted" some part of the salary, combat pay, and then all combat pay. In the end, he borrowed about half a million hryvnias from his brothers
