SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Ukrainian Gambling Council (UGC) has reached out to Google in the hopes it will stop blocking all advertising of licensed gambling organisers in the country.
In explaining its reasoning, the regulator emphasised that this does not comply with the current legislation, leads to losses for both business and the state budget of Ukraine and helps illegal operators to enrich themselves.
A UGC statement read: “Combating illegal online gambling advertising is an important component of counteracting the development of the shadow gambling market.
“However, over the past year, an unbalanced policy in this regard has led to extremely negative consequences – search engines have begun to block all advertising related to the activities of primarily licensed Ukrainian gambling market organisers that have established and unchanged domain addresses in the Ukrainian Internet segment.
“However, illegal operators, who can easily change the names of their websites and move from one domain to another (in different jurisdictions), have hardly felt the effects of the bans.”
It is also important to note that Google considers Ukraine as a country where all types of gambling, except lotteries, are currently prohibited, and it blocks advertising mainly from legal companies.
The regulator is concerned that this situation will lead to negative consequences and the expansion of the illegal services market.
Licensed companies have obtained state licences and launched marketing campaigns, including sponsorship of sports competitions, but they cannot legally advertise their services online.
“As a result of this, companies lose customers and profits, and the state loses taxes,” the statement added.
Lotteries are among the services allowed on Google in Ukraine, however, all lottery brands operate in the country on the basis of licences that expired back in 2014.
The regulator suggested that lotteries imitate gambling – betting, online casinos, slot machines – without having the appropriate licences. They also do not pay any taxes and licence fees to the budget. However, lottery operators are not subject to any restrictions on gambling advertising.
It added: “In order to remedy the situation and streamline the system of prohibitions in order to prevent further losses of business and state funds, the Ukrainian Gambling Council (UGC), a non-governmental organisation that unites licensed gambling organisers, has once again appealed to the management of the regional office of Google in Ukraine.”
The UGC has requested to lift the existing restrictions and provide an opportunity to officially advertise gambling, in particular, on the territory of Ukraine using Google services.
