Military personnel will be barred from accessing online casinos during martial law — government has adopted resolution
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted a resolution launching a mechanism to restrict military personnel’s access to gambling during the period of martial law.
This was reported by the Ministry of Digital Transformation, according to Censor.NET.
It is noted that the decision was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense. Its goal is to protect military personnel from the risks of gambling addiction and to minimize the associated security risks. Technical preparations are currently underway to launch automatic verification through government electronic registries.
How the new mechanism will work
Once technical integration is complete, when users register or log in to a legal casino, their data will be automatically verified simultaneously in:
- the registry of individuals with restricted access to gambling,
- the registry of military personnel created by the Ministry of Defense.
If the system confirms that a person is currently serving in the military, access to the game will be blocked.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation emphasizes that gambling operators will not receive information about the reason for the restriction; they will only see that a restriction is in place.
Who is responsible for implementing the mechanism?
Currently, PlayCity and the Ministry of Defense are working on the necessary changes and updating the registries to ensure automatic verification of whether access to gambling is restricted. Data exchange between government agencies will take place through the "Trembita" electronic interaction system.
The fight against illegal casinos
At the same time, the fight against the shadow market continues. According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the PlayCity agency identified and initiated the blocking of more than 4,100 illegal gambling websites over the course of the year. In addition, the government is preparing legislative changes to strengthen the fight against the illegal gambling industry.
PlayCity has already referred over 700 social media pages for blocking and has imposed 16 fines totaling nearly 80 million UAH for violations of gambling advertising regulations. Furthermore, efforts are underway to identify bloggers and content creators who have illegally promoted casinos. Once their identities are established, they may face legal consequences.
