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The National Police have started checking all operators of state lotteries.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk says the Cabinet has banned gambling, namely slot machines, under the guise of state lotteries.
"Today, the government ruled out the possibility of developing gambling businesses under the guise of state lotteries. The ministers voted to repeal the relevant provisions regarding lottery distributors in licensed conditions," he said on December 20.
Read alsoUkrainians not in favor of legalizing gambling – poll
According to Honcharuk, this means that facilities with slot machines will no more be able to operate under the guise of a "state lottery" entity.
"I instructed the National Police to start checking all operators of state lotteries today for compliance with the law on the prohibition of gambling, as well as the State Fiscal Service (SFS) to organize checks of licenses of all the so-called 'state lotteries,'" he added.
In turn, Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksiy Honcharenko said, referring to Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, that 152 facilities with slot machines were closed overnight December 20. Equipment worth UAH 46 million (US$2 million) has been seized.
Following the Cabinet's move, Avakov promised to hold a conference call and shut down gambling businesses across the country. According to Honcharenko, the government also canceled Decree No. 128/1037 on the lottery dated 2002, which was adopted by the then Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh.
On December 9, lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, tried to vote for a bill on the legalization of gambling in Ukraine. The bill allows gambling business only at three-star or four-star hotels if there is an appropriate state license. However, the draft law failed to pass the first reading and was returned for revision.
As UNIAN reported earlier, 56% of Ukrainians oppose legalization of gambling businesses, according to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
The national budget's revenue from the legalization of gambling may reach from UAH 2 billion-UAH 2.5 billion (US$85 million-US$105 million) per year, according to Ukraine's government.