Parimatch to receive Ukraine gambling licence

The operator said that in order to obtain the licence, it still needs to carry out a number of procedures required by the current legislation, including the payment of its licence fee to be completed within ten working days.

“Parimatch welcomes the decision of the commission to issue a licence,” said the operator’s chief communications officer, Daria Isakova.

Gambling was legalised in the jurisdiction in August 2020, after president Volodymyr Zelensky signed the Gambling Act into law.

Parimatch, which was founded in Ukraine, immediately announced its intention to pursue a licence in the jurisdiction.

Under the bill, online gambling, bookmaking, slot halls and land-based casinos would all be legalised, but casinos may only be located in hotels.

The country’s gambling laws include a clause to block any Russian-owned gaming businesses, or those with Russian directors, from participating in the market. However, Parimatch had previously confirmed to iGB that it was confident it met this requirement.

Figures published in the last version of the bill before it was passed suggested that a licence fee for online gaming would cost UAH39m (£1.0m/€1.2m/$1.4m), to be paid when a licence is renewed every five years.

The legislation stated however that all of these fees would be tripled until Ukraine’s Online Monitoring System comes into effect. This was expected within 30 months of the launch of the gambling market.

Ukraine’s first licence was awarded earlier this month, to online casino operator Spaceiks.

According to reports in Ukraine, Spaceiks LLC operates the Cosmolot brand, which was previously owned by the country’s National Lottery but was discontinued in 2019.