REUTERS
Serhiy Marchenko, Deputy head of the Ukrainian Finance Ministry, which is responsible for forming the state policy on lotteries, as well as a relevant regulatory framework, says that the country's lottery market today is virtually uncontrollable, according to Apostrophe, a Ukrainian news outlet.
"The situation is very complicated. In fact, we are seeing an uncontrolled market," the deputy finance minister told Apostrophe.
He has also admitted that there is a market for banned gambling in Ukraine, which poses a severe challenge for the public. Unfortunately, the ministry lacks the authority to resolve it, he said.
"I want you to clearly understand that there is a certain social problem, while the powers of finance ministry alone are not enough to resolve it. The essence of the problem is that we have a de facto shadow gambling market, which is de jure illegal, and a semi-legal market of lotteries," Marchenko stressed.
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"This is the government-prepared bill on de-shadowing of the gambling market and ensuring budget revenues to fulfill social obligations, which provides for a comprehensive settlement of the problem in the gambling business, including lotteries. This is a key bill but a number of alternative bills on the regulation of gambling business and lotteries, suggested by MPs, are not considered either by the Verkhovna Rada, its committees, and a specially created working group on legislative settlement of gambling market and the development of a unified concept of its functioning. That is, no one cares about this bill," Marchenko said.
It should be noted that the official failed to clarify that the draft law did not meet the standards of anti-corruption legislation, according to the findings published on the Verkhovna Rada website.