Ukraine announces PlayCity as country's new regulatory body
Further details to be confirmed for new body, as senior politician reveals KRAIL’s replacement via Telegram
The Ukrainian government is set to unveil the newly established gambling regulator in the country after a senior politician announced the body had been created.
Posting on Telegram, the cabinet’s representative in parliament, Taras Melnychuk, said PlayCity, the name for the new regulator, had been set up as a “central executive body”.
PlayCity will replace the regulator’s previous incarnation, KRAIL, which was dissolved earlier this year following approval from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
President Zelenskyy approved a regulatory shake-up in Ukraine in January after MPs had backed a bill in December 2024.
The changes, alongside the dissolvement of KRAIL, included a complete ban on advertising and further licence requirements for B2B companies.
As per the original bill, PlayCity will have the power to block illegal websites in Ukraine.
However, the original bill was amended slightly in December, with the total ad ban replaced by specific broadcasting windows and age-gating online.
Melnychuk added that Mykhailo Fedorov, the minister for digital transformation, will oversee PlayCity as part of his duties.
“The State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity has been established as the central executive body, […] which implements state policy in the field of organisation and conduct of gambling and lottery sphere,” Melnychuk wrote on Telegram.
According to the Ukrainian News Agency, PlayCity will occupy KRAIL’s previous premises, staff headcount will total 61 and the body will have a 2025 budget of UAH160.4m (£3m).
In December, the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation detained KRAIL CEO Ivan Rudyi over allegations he failed to revoke a Russian-owned operator’s licence.
Despite “numerous expert reports”, the authorities claimed that Rudyi neglected to act, despite the beneficial owner of the operator being Russian.