Official Post Event Press Release: Ukrainian Gaming Summit 2017

On December 8, 2017 the Ukrainian Association of the Gaming Industry (UGIA) organized the first international conference Ukrainian Gaming Summit 2017.

The conference was devoted to the responsible legalization of the gaming in Ukraine: how to make this business transparent and accountable to the society, beneficial for the state and investors. Iryna Sergienko, the President of the UGIA, emphasized that Ukraine needs to follow the experience of the EU countries in regulating the gaming business on the basis of the principle of social responsibility.

“Legalization will put the game business under effective government control. This is a necessary condition for preventing the most dangerous outputs of the gaming for vulnerable players, whose interests are now ignored. Taking the gaming business out from the shadow will lead to a significant increase in revenues of the state budget, the attraction of foreign investors in Ukraine, the creation of thousands of new jobs. Moreover, the gaming business allows to accumulate funds to finance sports, culture and socially important projects”, Iryna Sergienko mentioned.

The members of the Ukrainian Parliament and the executive authorities who participated at the Summit recognized the need for legalization of the gaming industry and called up business and experts to get together for finalizing current drafts of laws or create new ones with their further adoption by the Ukrainian Parliament. Moreover, legalization of the gaming industry is mentioned as the obligation in the Memorandum signed with the International Monetary Fund.

At the panel discussions of the Summit, international speakers shared their experience of regulation of the gaming business in Europe and with the help of statistical data demonstrated the economic and social advantages of gaming business legalization. In particular, lawyers from Great Britain and Bulgaria demonstrated specific instruments used in their countries that allow to regulate the gaming industry with the benefits for business and the state, with keeping the interests of society. Speakers also emphasized the importance of timely unification of the legislation with the perspective towards future optimal integration and prevention from the monopolization of the market.

Psychologists and sociologists focused on the fact that the scale of gambling addiction and social tension will tend to increase without the legalization of the gaming business. And the delayed reputational and social consequences will be much harder to eliminate the longer the gaming is not under government control.

The participants of the conference announced their intention to collaborate with the authorities and members of the Parliament and interested parties towards the adoption of the necessary legislation in 2018. One of the major steps was already made by the potential local Ukrainian investors – a creation of the Coordination Council of the interested parties and experts (supported of UGIA) on responsible legalization of the casino business.

Here are a couple of photos for the event: