The State Agency for Control over Gambling and Lotteries of Ukraine (PlayCity) has decided to fine FC Dynamo (Kyiv) for violating the requirements of the legislation on advertising in the field of organization and conduct of gambling for the amount of UAH 5.2m. According to the regulator’s document dated January 26, the violation was recorded on January 16.
At the same time, the soccer club has the right to appeal the decision in court within three months, the document says.
In December, it was reported that PlayCity has decided to block more than 2,500 illegal online casino sites in the six months since the start of operations, and the amount of fines imposed on bloggers and media for illegal promotion of gambling exceeded UAH 52 million.
In addition, more than 280 pages in social networks were deleted for posting illegal gambling advertisements.
In late December, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, PlayCity head Gennadiy Novikov noted that in the future it is planned to differentiate fines for violations in the field of gambling advertising by the degree of public risk, in particular, the fine for advertising illegal business will be higher.
The state agency fined 4.8 million UAH for illegal gambling advertising by the Telegram channel Truha Ukraine, Ukrainian sports media Tribuna.com (registered as Sport Segodnya LLC) and online media dev.ua (Dev Ukraine LLC). The media, in their turn, announced their intention to appeal this decision. There are no court rulings on these cases yet.
Since February 2025, the state policy in the field of gambling is formed and coordinated by the Ministry of Finance. On March 21, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to create a new central executive body – PlayCity agency (PlayCity), which is officially subordinate to the Mincifra and replaced the previous regulator – the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRAIL) from April 1.
The first debts for fines imposed on bloggers and media outlets by PlayCity have appeared in the registers
The first multi-million dollar fines for advertising gambling can now be found in the Unified Register of Debtors. A total of 13 bloggers and 1 Telegram channel received fines from the State Agency for the Control of Gambling and Lottery Business in Ukraine PlayCity for advertising online casinos. Currently, 8 fines are being appealed by the violators. So far, none of the fines have been paid, but some have already been transferred for enforcement, and some are being appealed in court.
The first proceedings for unpaid fines for illegal casino advertising appeared in the Unified Register of Debtors. Thus, two proceedings for unpaid fines from the State Agency PlayCity in the amount of UAH 4.8 million and UAH 24,000 against blogger Karina Kuchmenko (Simbochka) appeared in the Unified Register of Debtors in early January this year.
We remind you that you can check for open proceedings due to debts and obtain a statement of their absence on the Unified Register of Debtors page.
This is the first active proceeding in the register. Previously, the Unified Register of Debtors had records of fines imposed by PlayCity on two other bloggers: Diana Levonovna Movsesyan (Instagram account @xl.rusalochka.life) and Maxim Andriyovych Lavrinenko (Telegram channel “Truha”). However, in both cases, the opening of proceedings has been refused. In response to a request from OpenDataBot, PlayCity explained that there are procedural reasons for this, in particular, due to formal requirements for documents and the opening of court proceedings to appeal the relevant decisions.
A total of 13 bloggers and one media outlet, namely the Telegram channel “Truha,” received fines for advertising online casinos. Currently, none of the fines imposed have been paid voluntarily. PlayCity explains that the law provides for a period of up to three months for voluntary payment from the moment the sanction is imposed. For some of the decisions, this period has not yet expired.
At the same time, some of the defendants have decided to defend their position in court. Currently, seven bloggers and one media outlet are appealing PlayCity’s decision. Most of the lawsuits have resulted in administrative proceedings, and the cases are pending in court. At the same time, no court decisions on the merits of the disputes have been made yet.
“We are consistently developing the practice of bringing to justice those responsible for illegal gambling advertising and will continue to respond to all identified violations within the limits of our authority. We are convinced of the legitimacy of the sanctions applied and expect to defend our position in court,” commented Gennady Novikov, head of the PlayCity state agency.
It should be noted that last year, PlayCity intensified its fight against illegal gambling advertising in the Ukrainian information space. This concerns non-compliance with the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” and the provisions of the Law “On State Regulation of Activities Related to the Organization and Conduct of Gambling.” These acts define both the prohibitions on advertising gambling and the amounts of fines for violating them.
