UKraine: Unexpected consequences of attacks on the legal gambling market

Some players began to think about the existence of legal and illegal gambling service providers, assess the negative consequences of playing on illegal platforms and the benefits of using legal ones. In addition, they started to use the mechanism of self-restraint from gambling more actively, which became available due to the legalisation of gambling.

As of 01.07.2024, the register of persons with restricted access to gambling included 7,874 people. Compared to the beginning of the year, their number has more than doubled, but this does not mean that there are more gambling addicted in the country. I have already explained in detail the correctness and reality of this data in one of my previous articles.

Therefore, today we can say that there are no "hundreds of thousands" of gambling addicts in Ukraine and there cannot be. At the same time, I attribute the growth in the number of people in the Register to three main factors.

1. The legalisation of gambling and the subsequent crackdown on illegal gambling organisers contributed to the transition of a certain number of players to legal gambling platforms. At some stage, they may have realised that they had problems with gambling addiction and, accordingly, used the opportunity to self-restrict, which they did not have when playing on illegal platforms and in halls.

2.Raising awareness among players and their families about the difference between legal and illegal gambling organisers. Despite the very controversial information background around legal gambling organisers, some players and their family members were able to understand why illegal gambling organisers are the main source of all gambling-related problems. This understanding allowed them to better understand the risks to their own data and funds and take appropriate measures, including self-restraint.

3. With the legalisation of gambling, legal and psychological counselling for players has become more active. In addition, legal gambling organisers themselves began to introduce certain technical restrictions aimed at controlling dangerous gambling behaviour as part of their commitment to responsible gambling. As a result, the increased social responsibility of legal gambling businesses has helped some players to understand that, due to their emotional and psychological state, gambling is more likely to be a problem than a pastime.

The trend of increasing awareness of the possibility of self-restraint among players demonstrates that despite all the challenges facing legal gambling today, the legalisation reform has provided an effective mechanism for players with gambling addiction to fight it. And the more players who refuse to play illegal games, the better it will be for them and the market, even if some of these players limit their gambling as a result.

However, the situation with gambling addiction is still far from being fully stabilised, as illegal organisers continue to work actively. Unfortunately, recent changes in legislation have made it even easier for them to do so. In addition, uncontrolled access to their services contributes to the spread of gambling addiction. Take lotteries as an example. It would be interesting to see how many players of classic lotteries have gambling addictions, not to mention the gambling that these lotteries illegally imitate, contributing to the spread of gambling addiction. Unfortunately, we won't get such statistics because lotteries, despite their rapid activity, are outside the legislative and regulatory field.