How to get a gambling licence in Ukraine: fees and steps

The body that licenses and supervises gambling is the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity. Law 768-IX calls it the Authorised Body; it implements state policy on gambling and lotteries, while the Ministry of Digital Transformation makes the policy and the Cabinet approves the licence conditions.

• PlayCity issues the licences and supervises: licence checks, inspections and monitoring through the State Online Monitoring System. The tax authority supervises tax and has full access to the monitoring data.
• The Ministry of Digital Transformation sets the policy-level rules by order: reporting forms, player spending and time limits, the unique player identifier and the equipment inspection procedure.
• AML supervision of gambling operators does not sit with PlayCity: the AML Law gives it to the central executive body that forms AML policy, without naming it. Reports go to the Financial Intelligence Unit, the State Financial Monitoring Service.
• Licensing procedures KRAIL left unfinished were completed by PlayCity, with time limits counted from 1 April 2025.

Laws that apply

• Zakon Ukrainy No. 768-IX vid 14.07.2020 "Pro derzhavne rehuliuvannia diialnosti shchodo orhanizatsii ta provedennia azartnykh ihor" (Law on State Regulation of Gambling), edition of 12 September 2025
• Zakon No. 4116-IX vid 04.12.2024 (regulator reform, addiction measures, advertising, site blocking; in force 1 April 2025)
• Podatkovyi kodeks Ukrainy (Tax Code: Arts. 136.4, 141.5.1, 167.1, 170.6) · Zakon "Pro reklamu" No. 270/96-VR, Art. 22-1 (advertising) · AML Law No. 361-IX
• Postanovy Kabinetu Ministriv No. 1341 vid 21.12.2020 (licence conditions), No. 300 vid 31.03.2021 (B2B), No. 505 vid 02.05.2025 (PlayCity Regulation), No. 171 vid 16.02.2024 (monitoring system), No. 1370 of 29 October 2025 (addiction requirements)

Law 768-IX licenses each activity separately, each for five years. A bookmaking licence covers betting points and the internet; an online casino licence does not cover online poker, which needs its own licence (Art. 30(3)). There is no cap on the number of online or B2B licences.

• A licence allows one brand only; members of a group with a common founder holding more than 50% use the group brand with a suffix for the activity (Art. 44(2)). A second brand needs a second licence and fee.
• Within that brand the operator runs a website on a .UA domain notified to PlayCity before use, plus mobile apps; the register lists them.
• There is no renewal procedure: a holder whose 2021 licence ends receives a new licence decision, with the first-year fee payable again.
• Land-based (one line): land casino, slot hall, and per-table, per-machine and per-betting-point licences; a hippodrome tote licence and a ten-year investment licence.
• Lotteries are outside Law 768-IX: state-lottery operators are licensed under the Law on State Lotteries by competition, for ten years, at most three at a time.

Only a legal person resident in Ukraine, formed under Ukrainian law, whose main activity is organising gambling can hold a licence (Art. 14(1)(1)). A branch of a foreign company cannot. EU and non-EU companies are treated alike: they can only be founders of the Ukrainian licensee.

• The Law defines the aggressor state by reference to the Law on Defence and does not name it in these articles.
• Brands owned or used by aggressor-state persons or sanctioned persons cannot be used; a breach ends the licence on the first violation.
• Employees must be at least 21. No residency or citizenship rule applies to directors beyond the aggressor-state tests.
• B2B providers must also be Ukrainian-resident legal persons, but no minimum capital or guarantee is set for them.

The application goes to PlayCity by hand, by post or electronically, including through the Diia portal, signed with a qualified electronic signature. There is no application window and no separate application fee; the licence fee is due only after the decision.

• Documents: constitutional documents, a register extract for any foreign founder (not older than 90 days), an independent auditor's confirmation of the capital, source-of-funds documents, criminal-record certificates for managers, chief accountant, significant shareholders and beneficial owners, rights to the .UA domain and hosting, rights to the brand, the declarations form and the AML ownership-structure form. The list is exhaustive; foreign documents are apostilled and translated.
• No business plan or financial projections are required, and there is no pre-approval of an applicant, model or platform.
• Timeline: within 5 working days PlayCity decides whether the file is complete; the decision to issue or refuse is taken within 15 working days; the first-year fee is paid within 10 working days of the notice, and the licence is issued after payment.
• Refusal grounds include false data, unexplained sources of capital, an unspent conviction for the listed crimes, AML violations and aggressor-state control. A refusal can be appealed administratively or in an administrative court.
• Applications are not accepted or registered during air-raid alerts.

Until the State Online Monitoring System is commissioned, the annual part of the fee for bookmaking and online casino, and the annual fee per slot machine, is paid at three times the amount (final provisions item 3). Online poker and B2B are not tripled.

• The system went into test operation on 10 April 2026, and 11 organisers had connected in test mode by 12 May 2026. No commissioning decision was found up to 21 October 2026, so the tripling is treated as still in force.
• Law 4116-IX told the Cabinet to commission the system within six months of 1 April 2025, by 1 October 2025.
• PlayCity's April 2026 results report one online casino licence issued for over UAH 33 million, which fits the tripled annual part of UAH 33,723,300.
• The fee for each licence year is fixed at the minimum wage of the year the licence was decided; only the guarantee follows each new 1 January minimum wage. Paid fees are not refunded.

Organisers pay a tax on income from gambling in addition to corporate income tax. The Code treats it as part of corporate income tax and keeps no separate gambling duty.

• The gambling tax is not deductible for corporate income tax (Art. 141.5.1).
• The Code does not define which payouts may be deducted, and Law 768-IX defines a payout narrowly as the return of a stake; PlayCity describes the base as stakes less winnings paid and returns. No ruling on bonuses or promotional credits was found.
• Returns follow the corporate income tax periods: due 40 days after a quarter or half-year and 60 days after the year, with payment 10 days after the filing deadline.
• Gambling operations are outside VAT, and there is no advertising or other gambling-specific tax.
• The operator withholds 18% personal income tax and a 5% military levy from player winnings and pays them with the payout.
• A March 2026 Ministry draft would set a single 18% rate and tax players on net winnings; it is not law.

The technical facilities of the online system must be located only in Ukraine and its data processed only in Ukraine (Art. 23(3)); no mirror alternative is given.

• The online system must be certified and inspected by bodies on PlayCity's list (order 33-OD of 20 March 2026): four certification bodies and two inspection bodies, GLI Europe B.V. on both. A certificate from a body not on the list does not count.
• Inspection follows within one month of first use and then at least every two years; a change of online system restarts the clock. No individual game needs approval.
• The online system must connect to the State Online Monitoring System within ten days of the licence and report every stake, return and payout in real time; failing to connect ends the licence. Connection is free.
• Slot machines must return at least 90%; whether that floor applies to online slots is not stated.
• Monitoring data are kept at least 1,095 days after the organiser stops; AML records five years; accounting documents 1,825 days.

All non-cash settlements in gambling must run through current accounts at Ukrainian banks (Art. 15-1). This is the rule PlayCity has enforced hardest.

• The organiser may not use e-money institutions, payment institutions, postal operators, other financial institutions or commercial agents, and the bank may not bring in another provider. A breach is fined 1,000 minimum wages and ends the licence on the first violation.
• Online casino stakes are taken in electronic hryvnia game substitutes; credit and loans to players are banned.
• Each player uses one own account for all settlements; no top-ups by or payouts to third parties.
• Online betting winnings are paid within 10 working days of the day the recipient is determined; casino payout periods are set in the operator's rules.
• Banks and other payment providers must refuse payments to unlicensed operators.

Only a person aged 21 or over may play, and the organiser must identify the player before the account is created or topped up.

• Spend limits per day, week and month must be set before play, at most 15%, 25% and 40% of the player's declared average monthly income online; time limits at most 6 hours a day, 21 a week and 100 a month, with a 15-minute break after two hours of continuous play (Order 207).
• The site shows the real time on every page and regular notices of time and money spent; the organiser monitors behaviour and stops players with signs of severe addiction.
• The national Register of Persons with Restricted Access covers venues and online play. Self-restriction runs from six months to three years and cannot be withdrawn; relatives can apply for up to six months, and a court can restrict for six months to three years.
• Operators check the register when identifying a player, may themselves take self-restriction applications, and report quarterly to PlayCity on addiction measures.
• Bonuses, gifts or other incentives that depend on a player's loss are banned.

Several rules depend on martial law. They change how PlayCity supervises, who may play and what players pay.

• Planned and unplanned inspections in gambling run during martial law on PlayCity's decision (Cabinet Resolution 303, point 10).
• Servicemen are to be restricted from gambling through an automatic exchange between the restriction register and the Defence Ministry's register (Cabinet Resolution 804 of 17 June 2026). It takes effect when PlayCity publishes the result of testing the link, due within six months of 24 June 2026; PlayCity announced a tender for the module on 24 August 2026.
• The military levy on player winnings is 5%; it falls back to 1.5% from 1 January of the year after the third calendar year after martial law ends.
• Law 4840-IX of 8 April 2026 takes effect when martial law ends and only renames the supervision law that Law 768-IX refers to.
• Activity in temporarily occupied territory is a ground for terminating a licence.

Law 4116-IX rewrote Art. 22-1 of the Law on Advertising from 1 April 2025. Gambling advertising is banned except in the listed placements, and only a licensed organiser may commission it.

• Allowed: linear TV and radio from 23:00 to 06:00; specialised gambling or sport publications for readers over 21; inside gaming venues; the operator's own sites, apps and pages; registered online media for over-21s; non-linear media, platforms and search engines that can aim ads at over-21s.
• Banned: outdoor and transport advertising; calls, messages and mailings about gambling to an undetermined circle of persons; product placement; sponsorship outside sport. Sport sponsorship is allowed, except children's and youth sport, without outdoor ads.
• Ads may not use servicemen, volunteers, doctors, popular persons other than athletes, film or cartoon characters, people under 21, or patriotic themes and symbols, and may not offer free bonuses in place of a stake.
• Every ad carries the warning "Uchast v azartnykh ihrakh mozhe vyklykaty ihrovu zalezhnist. Dotrymuitesia pravyl (pryntsypiv) vidpovidalnoi hry" on at least 15% of the ad, black on white, and the licence number, date and issuing body.
• Advertisers, producers and distributors in breach are each fined 600 minimum wages (UAH 5,188,200 in 2026). The broadcasting regulator told media in April 2025 to wait for approved co-regulation codes.

Gambling operators are primary financial-monitoring entities under AML Law 361-IX, and PlayCity enforces through fines set in minimum wages and termination. There is no licence suspension.

• AML: appoint a responsible employee at management level, run due diligence on winners and on stakes subject to monitoring, report threshold operations of UAH 55,000 or more and report suspicious operations immediately to the State Financial Monitoring Service.
• Fines (Art. 58), at the 2026 minimum wage of UAH 8,647: 500 minimum wages for failing the responsible-gambling duties (UAH 4,323,500), 1,000 for breaching the settlement rules (UAH 8,647,000), 1,000 per unit of uncertified or uninspected equipment, 150 for a missing report, 50 for a late one or for using an unlicensed supplier.
• Termination grounds include false data, a licence fee more than two months late, not connecting to the monitoring system within ten days, a second violation in a calendar year (the first for the settlement and brand rules), loss of eligibility of owners or managers, and tax debt above 20 minimum wages.
• PlayCity decides to block unlicensed sites and apps: providers block within three working days of the telecom regulator's notice, and app platforms are told to ban the app. It blocked over 4,100 sites in its first year.
• Organising gambling without a licence is a crime (Criminal Code Art. 203-2): a fine of 10,000 to 40,000 non-taxable minimum incomes, about UAH 16.64 million to UAH 66.56 million in 2026, and up to 50,000 (about UAH 83.2 million) for a repeat or a group. No penalty on players was found.
• Largest fines decided: UAH 933,876,000 on a slot-hall operator for 108 uninspected machines (22 April 2026); over UAH 988 million in PlayCity's first year.

There is no licensed workaround for products the Law bans; the grey market runs on foreign licences and payment routes the Law forbids licensees to use.

• PlayCity's signs of an illegal site: a claimed Curaçao or Anjouan licence, Russian or another foreign language, top-ups by crypto or by transfer to a personal bank card, a non-.ua domain and no ID check. They also use games from well-known international suppliers, whom PlayCity asked on 27 August 2026 to stop working with them.
• In a PlayCity survey of online-casino players, the reasons given for using illegal platforms were fast registration without identity checks (33%), anonymity (17%) and no limits (16%).
• The state's answers are site and app blocking, the duty on banks to refuse payments, and Criminal Code Art. 203-2 for the organisers.
• Virtual betting, and bets on events decided by a random-number generator, are banned for bookmakers; no workaround was found.

The route to a live Ukrainian online casino or sportsbook, in filing order. Build the platform and the monitoring-system link while the company and capital are set up.

1. 01

   Incorporate a Ukrainian company with UAH 30M cash capital

   Art. 14(1) · UAH 30,000,000

   Register a Ukrainian-resident legal person whose main activity is organising and conducting gambling, with charter capital of at least UAH 30,000,000 formed in cash from funds whose source can be documented.

2. 02

   Clear the ownership and reputation tests

   Art. 14(1), (6)-(7)

   Confirm no control by, and no beneficial owner resident in, a state carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine; no founder in a high-risk AML jurisdiction; no sanctioned persons; criminal-record certificates for managers, chief accountant, significant shareholders and beneficial owners.

3. 03

   Choose the activity and the brand

   Arts. 30, 44, 53-57

   One licence per activity and one brand per licence: online casino, bookmaking (points and internet) and online poker are separate licences. Register the .UA domain and secure rights to the brand.

4. 04

   Put up the winnings guarantee

   Art. 14(3) · UAH 62,258,400 in 2026

   Hold 7,200 minimum wages on a separate bank account, or a bank guarantee for the same sum, re-set each 1 January.

5. 05

   Open Ukrainian bank accounts for settlements

   Art. 15-1

   All non-cash settlements go through current accounts at Ukrainian banks, notified to the bank as gambling accounts; no e-money or payment institutions.

6. 06

   Build the platform in Ukraine and certify it

   Arts. 22-23 · order 33-OD

   Locate the online system's technical facilities and data processing in Ukraine, and have it certified by a body on PlayCity's list. Use B2B suppliers that hold a Ukrainian services licence.

7. 07

   File with PlayCity

   Art. 46 · Res. 1341 · Diia portal

   Submit the application and the exhaustive document list by hand, by post or electronically. PlayCity checks the file within 5 working days and decides within 15 working days.

8. 08

   Pay the first-year fee part

   Art. 49 · within 10 working days

   Pay the first annual part within 10 working days of the decision notice (2026 amounts): UAH 33,723,300 for online casino or UAH 155,646,000 for bookmaking while the fee is tripled, UAH 8,647,000 for online poker. The licence is issued after payment.

9. 09

   Connect to the State Online Monitoring System within ten days

   Art. 22(4) · Res. 171

   Ask for the access token within three working days of the licence and connect the online system within ten days; failing to connect ends the licence.

10. 10

    Wire in identification, limits and the restriction register

    Arts. 16-18 · Order 207 · Res. 1370

    Identify every player (21+) before the account is created or funded, require spend and time limits before play, show reality checks, and check the restriction register at every identification.

11. 11

    Run AML, tax, reporting and the two-yearly inspection

    AML Law 361-IX · Tax Code · Order 155

    Report threshold and suspicious operations, pay 18% gambling-income tax and 18% corporate income tax, withhold 18% plus 5% on winnings, file the quarterly reports to PlayCity, pay each later fee part 30 days before the licence year, and have the online system inspected at least every two years.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 21 Oct 2026.