The application window for prospective stewards of Ukrainian state lotteries has closed, leaving three bidders in the running for the contract.
Ukraine’s gambling and lotteries regulator, PlayCity, confirmed that LLC MSL (Molod’ Sport Loto), FDI Ukrainian National Lottery (UNL) and PrJSC Patriot are the three applicants.
As reported by SBC News, the applications submitted by MSL and Patriot may surprise some Ukrainians and other market stakeholders due to past allegations against these two companies.
Both MSL and Patriot were implicated in alleged Russian-linked money laundering scandals back in 2015, at which time tensions between Ukraine and Russia were escalating amid a conflict in the east of the country.
This scandal led to the Ukrainian government suspending the lottery market and beginning a regulatory review of how gaming is overseen. This process continued all the way into 2025 amidst the war between Russia and Ukraine after the former invaded its neighbour to the west in 2022.
Gennady Novikov, Director of PlayCity, attributed the limited number of lottery applicants to legislative restrictions and regulatory constraints amid wartime conditions.
As a result, the lottery licences will be issued ‘for the period of martial law plus one year, but no more than three’ he said. This is instead of the usual 10 year licence duration.
“This gives the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Parliament time to review the regulation of the lottery market, propose new rules, and re-license the market using an updated approach, including the possibility of attracting international companies,” said Novikov.
Ukraine’s regulatory reset took a major step forward last year when PlayCity took over from KRAIL, the former regulator of gambling and lotteries which was dissolved amid investigations into corruption.
Modernising gambling and lotteries and the way these sectors are located falls under the remit of the Ministry of Digital Transformation.