Ukraine Gambling License
A Ukraine gambling license is issued by the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity under Law No. 768-IX of 14 July 2020. Only a Ukrainian resident company with UAH 30,000,000 of paid-up cash capital can hold one. Each license covers a single activity and runs for five years.
What is a Ukraine gaming license?
A Ukraine gaming license is a state permit from PlayCity that lets a Ukrainian resident company run one named gambling activity. Article 44 of Law No. 768-IX splits the market into eleven separate licenses. Holding a Ukrainian online casino license does not let you run an online poker room as well.
That one-activity rule is the sharpest difference between Ukraine and an offshore regime. An offshore license usually bundles casino, betting and poker under a single certificate. In Ukraine each vertical is priced, applied for and supervised on its own, and the fee scales with the vertical rather than with the operator.
The second difference is territorial reach. A Ukrainian license authorises play inside Ukraine and nowhere else. Ukraine is not a member of the European Union, so the permit carries no passporting right into any EU market. An operator serving players elsewhere still needs a license wherever those players sit.
Who regulates gambling in Ukraine?
The State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity (Державне агентство України «ПлейСіті») regulates gambling in Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers approved its charter by Resolution No. 505 of 2 May 2025, and the agency began work on 2 June 2025. KRAIL, the former Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, was liquidated by Cabinet Resolution No. 336 of 25 March 2025.
Many published guides still send applicants to KRAIL. That body no longer exists, and neither does its website. PlayCity sits under the Ministry of Digital Transformation and issues licenses digitally through the Diia state portal.
Four instruments carry the current rules for a Ukraine gambling license:
Law of Ukraine No. 768-IX of 14 July 2020, the primary statute.
Law No. 4116-IX of 4 December 2024, which replaced the regulator and tightened the aggressor-state bans.
Cabinet Resolution No. 1341 of 21 December 2020, the licensing conditions, in the wording of Resolution No. 1117 of 1 September 2025.
Cabinet Resolution No. 1725 of 24 December 2025, the procedure for filing a licence application through the Diia portal, newer than Resolution No. 1117 and covering all eleven licence types.
The 2025 rewrite matters more than its number suggests. License issue had been frozen since 2024 because the licensing conditions had not been updated for the new regulator. Resolution No. 1117 restarted it, and PlayCity issued the first new licenses shortly afterwards.
Which gambling license types exist in Ukraine?
Article 44 of Law No. 768-IX lists eleven license types. Six authorise an operator to run a vertical. Three attach to a single object, such as a table, a machine or a betting shop. One covers services to the industry, and one is the investment license.
The distinction between an operator license and an object license is what published lists usually miss. A land casino operator in Ukraine pays for the casino license and then pays again, every year, for each table and each machine on the floor.
| License (Article 44) | Category | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Casino in gambling establishments | Operator | Land-based casino inside a qualifying hotel |
| Casino games on the internet | Operator | Online casino, and a Ukraine online gambling license in the usual sense |
| Bookmaking activity | Operator | Betting shops and internet betting under one license |
| Gambling in slot-machine halls | Operator | Land-based machine halls |
| Poker on the internet | Operator | Online poker, separate from online casino |
| Totalisator betting at a racecourse | Operator | Racecourse pari-mutuel, racecourse owners only. Article 44(1)(10) provides the licence, while the exhaustive list of permitted gambling activities in Article 2(1) names five activities and does not include it, so confirm the position with PlayCity before planning a racecourse product |
| Gaming table, with or without a roulette ring | Object | One table, charged annually |
| Betting shop | Object | One betting outlet, charged annually |
| Gaming machine | Object | One machine, charged annually |
| Services in the field of gambling | Services | The Ukraine B2B gaming license |
| Investment license | Investment | Casino rights tied to building a five-star hotel complex of at least 200 rooms in Kyiv or 150 rooms in other cities (Art. 26(6)); no issue fee, ten-year term (Art. 26(7)) |
Two clarifications on lists you may have read elsewhere. The lottery license is real, but it does not sit in Article 44. It belongs to the separate law on state lotteries, costs 28,000 minimum wages and runs for ten years. Ukrainian law also has no roulette license, no single-slot license and no catch-all permit covering every vertical at once.
Who can apply for a Ukraine gambling license?
Only a legal entity resident in Ukraine and formed under Ukrainian law can hold a Ukraine gaming license. Article 14 of Law No. 768-IX requires paid-up share capital of at least UAH 30,000,000 in cash. It also requires a targeted deposit or bank guarantee for paying winnings, worth 7,200 minimum wages.
At the 2026 minimum wage of UAH 8,647, that guarantee is UAH 62,258,400. Unlike the license fee, it tracks the minimum wage set on 1 January of the current year, so it moves every time the wage moves. Article 14 fixes the cash requirement at UAH 30,000,000 and does not require capital above that floor to be cash. An auditor confirms the capital in a formal conclusion, and separate documents have to show where the money came from.
Foreign shareholders are allowed, and the law prescribes no particular corporate form. What the law does prohibit is any link to the aggressor state. Under Article 14, directors, the chief accountant, holders of substantial participation and ultimate beneficial owners must not be citizens or residents of that state. The company itself must not be controlled by such people, and it must not carry any shareholding held by them.
Read that as a structuring problem rather than a declaration. PlayCity checks the whole ownership chain, and Article 50 lists control from the aggressor state among the grounds for refusing a license outright.
How much does a Ukraine gambling license cost in 2026?
Ukraine sets every license fee as a multiple of the minimum wage, which is UAH 8,647 from 1 January 2026 under Budget Law No. 4695-IX. A Ukrainian online casino license costs 6,500 minimum wages, or UAH 56,205,500 across the five-year term. The rate is fixed on the date PlayCity decides.
Two mechanics decide what you actually pay. The fee is split into five equal annual instalments across the term, so the headline figure is never due at once. The minimum wage used is the one in force on 1 January of the year the issue decision is taken. That rate is then held for the whole five years, so later wage rises do not touch the fee.
| License | Minimum wages | Total, 2026 rate | Standard annual instalment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino on the internet | 6,500 | UAH 56,205,500 | UAH 11,241,100 |
| Bookmaking activity | 30,000 | UAH 259,410,000 | UAH 51,882,000 |
| Slot-machine halls | 7,500 | UAH 64,852,500 | UAH 12,970,500 |
| Poker on the internet | 5,000 | UAH 43,235,000 | UAH 8,647,000 |
| Casino in Kyiv | 60,000 | UAH 518,820,000 | UAH 103,764,000 |
| Casino in other cities | 30,000 | UAH 259,410,000 | UAH 51,882,000 |
| Services in the field of gambling | 300 | UAH 2,594,100 | Payment schedule not published |
| Gaming table with a roulette ring | 175 a year | UAH 1,513,225 a year | Charged annually |
| Gaming table without a roulette ring | 90 a year | UAH 778,230 a year | Charged annually |
| Gaming machine | 6 a year | UAH 51,882 a year | Charged annually |
| Betting shop | 30 a year | UAH 259,410 a year | Charged annually |
The table shows the statutory rate. For three of these licenses the amount currently leaving the account is three times larger, and the next section explains why.
One licence sits outside the whole schedule. Article 26(7) charges nothing at all for the investment licence and gives it a ten-year term, against ten million hryvnia figures everywhere else in this table. The price is capital rather than fee: Article 26(6) grants it only against building a five-star hotel complex of at least 200 rooms in Kyiv, or at least 150 rooms in another city.
Why are online gambling license fees tripled in Ukraine?
Paragraph 3 of Section XI of Law No. 768-IX charges the annual instalment at triple rate until the State Online Monitoring System is commissioned. The surcharge covers three items: the bookmaking license, the online casino license and the annual fee per gaming machine. Ukrainian online poker and land-based casino licenses are not affected.
At 2026 rates that turns an online casino instalment of UAH 11,241,100 into UAH 33,723,300, and a bookmaking instalment of UAH 51,882,000 into UAH 155,646,000. Over a five-year term at the triple rate, an online casino operator pays UAH 168,616,500 rather than UAH 56,205,500.
| License | Standard annual instalment | Annual instalment at the triple rate |
|---|---|---|
| Casino on the internet | UAH 11,241,100 | UAH 33,723,300 |
| Bookmaking activity | UAH 51,882,000 | UAH 155,646,000 |
| Gaming machine, per machine | UAH 51,882 | UAH 155,646 |
| Poker on the internet | UAH 8,647,000 | Not tripled |
| Casino in gambling establishments | UAH 103,764,000 (Kyiv) | Not tripled |
The surcharge ends on an event, not on a date. PlayCity's first-year report counts eleven operators connected to the State Online Monitoring System, which was still running as a pilot rather than in commissioned service. PlayCity has targeted full rollout for the end of 2026. No instrument fixes that date, so the triple rate applies until the commissioning actually happens.
Law No. 768-IX also sets out what follows commissioning. Operators then have six months to connect their gambling equipment, and the Cabinet of Ministers must put proposals to parliament on changing the tax rates on gambling income.
How it works
How do you get a Ukraine gambling license?
Navigating the gaming license process can be complex. Here's a streamlined guide to each step.
PlayCity decides on a license application within 15 working days, counted from the day after the application is accepted. Before that clock starts, you need a Ukrainian company, paid-up capital and evidence of where the money came from. Online verticals also need rights to a .UA domain.
The statutory review period is short by European standards. Almost all of the real timeline sits before filing, in company formation, capital and the domain, which is where the six steps below put the work.
What documents are required for a Ukraine gambling license?
PlayCity expects one file combining corporate documents, proof of money, clean-record certificates and technical evidence. The list below follows the licensing conditions in Cabinet Resolution No. 1341, in the wording of Resolution No. 1117 of 1 September 2025. Diia publishes its own document list for each license type.
Application for the license.
Copies of the applying company's constituent documents.
An auditor's conclusion on the size of the paid-up share capital.
Evidence of where the share capital came from.
Extracts from bank, court or trade registers for foreign founders.
Information on ultimate beneficial owners and holders of substantial participation.
Certificates of no criminal record for directors, the chief accountant, owners of more than 10% and beneficial owners.
Documents on the right to use the premises, for land-based verticals.
Documents on rights to a .UA domain name, plus hosting provider and registrar details, for online verticals.
Proof of rights to the brand the license will carry.
Confirmation that the premises meet the licensing conditions.
Certificates for gambling equipment, covering tables and machines.
Declarations on sanctions compliance and anti-money-laundering compliance.
Check the list against the current Diia entry for your vertical before filing. Document lists published by advisers in 2020 and 2021 predate both the new regulator and the 2025 licensing conditions.
What is the Ukraine B2B gambling services license?
The license for providing services in the field of gambling (ліцензія на провадження діяльності з надання послуг у сфері азартних ігор) is the Ukraine B2B gaming license. Article 57 sets it at 300 minimum wages, UAH 2,594,100 in 2026, for five years. Ukrainian residents supplying gambling software need it.
The obligation follows the supplier, not the customer. A Ukrainian resident that supplies software used directly in gambling activity needs the license whether the operator it serves is resident in Ukraine or not. Do not treat "B2B license" as the legal name: it is shorthand, and applications use the statutory wording.
The volumes show where the market currently sits. In its first year PlayCity issued 250 licenses: 11 to gambling organisers, 23 for services in the field of gambling, 213 for gambling equipment and 3 to lottery operators. Equipment licenses dominate the count because each table and each machine carries its own license.
What taxes apply to licensed gambling operators in Ukraine?
Licensed operators in Ukraine pay two profit taxes at once. Article 136.4 of the Tax Code charges 10% on slot-machine income with no deduction for winnings, and 18% on bookmaking and casino income after winnings paid. Article 136.1 then charges 18% on the financial result, and the first tax does not reduce it.
| Tax | Rate | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Gambling income tax, slot machines | 10% | Gross income, with no reduction for winnings paid |
| Gambling income tax, bookmaking and casino | 18% | Income less winnings paid, that is GGR |
| Corporate profit tax | 18% | Financial result, not reduced by the gambling income tax |
| Player winnings | 23% | The whole payout, withheld by the operator as tax agent |
Rates current as of September 2026.
The non-deduction rule is the point that changes a business case. Because the tax charged under Article 136.4 does not reduce the financial result taxed under Article 136.1, the same revenue carries both charges. Market commentary calls this double taxation, and the description is accurate.
Players are taxed on the gross payout, not on net winnings. The 23% is 18% personal income tax plus a 5% military levy, and the operator withholds both at payout. The levy is a wartime measure: Law No. 4015-IX of 10 October 2024 raised it from 1.5%, effective December 2024. The Tax Code allows no reduction for the stake placed.
One reform is in play and has not passed. In March 2026 the Ministry of Digital Transformation proposed a single 18% rate on GGR across all verticals and an end to the double charge. Treat it as a proposal until it is voted, signed and published.
How long is a Ukraine gambling license valid?
Every license to organise and run gambling in Ukraine is valid for five years. The lottery license, which sits in a separate law, runs for ten years. Ukraine caps neither the number of licenses issued nor the number one company may hold.
Object licenses follow the operator license. A gaming table, a betting shop or a gaming machine is licensed for the remaining term of the main license, and paid for annually. A floor of fifty machines carries fifty annual charges alongside the operator fee.
One company may hold licenses for several verticals at once. An operator that wants both an online casino and an online poker room applies twice, pays twice and is supervised on both files.
What are the ongoing compliance obligations for licensees?
A Ukraine gambling license brings continuous duties rather than a one-off approval. Licensees connect to the State Online Monitoring System and act as primary financial monitoring entities under anti-money-laundering law. They also check the register of restricted players and apply the responsible-gambling rules PlayCity sets.
Connection of gambling equipment and online systems to the State Online Monitoring System, with every transaction logged and unalterable.
Status as a primary financial monitoring entity: player identification and verification, source-of-funds checks and reporting.
Checks against the Register of persons whose access to gambling establishments and participation in gambling is restricted. Self-restriction runs from six months to three years and cannot be withdrawn early. The register held more than 16,000 people in April 2026, and PlayCity recorded over 3,000 new applications during 2026.
Responsible-gambling rules approved by PlayCity, with time and spending limits for players.
Restrictions on gambling by serving military personnel, applied through automatic blocking.
Non-cash settlement with players through the operator's own online system.
Enforcement is real and recent. PlayCity imposed more than UAH 988,000,000 in fines on gambling organisers during its first year of work, after planned inspections resumed following the wartime moratorium.
What restrictions apply to gambling advertising in Ukraine?
Gambling advertising is permitted in Ukraine but tightly framed. Only a holder of a valid license may advertise, and the advertisement must carry the license number, its date of issue and the issuing authority. Broadcast, print, outdoor and transport advertising each carry their own limits.
No gambling advertising on television or radio between 06:00 and 23:00, across cable, satellite, IP, online, mobile and digital terrestrial delivery.
Print advertising is confined to specialised titles.
No advertising on transport, in the metro, or as outdoor advertising.
A mandatory addiction warning covering at least 15% of the advertisement area, in black on white.
People under 21 may not appear in gambling advertising, including as photo models, and well-known figures may not endorse play.
No suggestion that winning is easy, or that gambling is a source of income or an alternative to work.
The penalty is sized in minimum wages, so it rises every January. Unlawful gambling advertising carries a fine of 600 minimum wages, which is UAH 5,188,200 at the 2026 rate. Budget the compliance review of every creative, not just of the license file.
Advantages of a Ukraine gambling license
Ukraine offers a fully legal onshore regime with a state regulator, digital filing and a fixed decision period. For an operator whose players are in Ukraine, it is the only lawful route. The domestic market is large, and the license fee is fixed for the whole term once PlayCity decides.
A legal, state-run regime since 2020, with a named regulator and a published statute.
Separate licenses for each vertical, including online casino and online poker, so a product can be licensed on its own.
Digital licensing through the Diia state portal.
A fixed review period of 15 working days for the PlayCity decision.
No cap on how many licenses are issued, or on how many one company holds.
The minimum wage rate is fixed for the whole license term, so the fee does not rise with inflation once the decision is taken.
A large domestic market. Gambling organisers paid more than UAH 14,000,000,000 in tax during PlayCity's first year of work.
Disadvantages and risks of a Ukraine gambling license
Ukraine is an expensive onshore market with an unsettled rulebook, and an operator should price both. The threshold before any revenue arrives runs to tens of millions of hryvnia. The triple rate has no end date, and the rules have moved twice in two years.
A high entry threshold. UAH 30,000,000 of paid-up capital, a guarantee worth 7,200 minimum wages, and UAH 33,723,300 a year for a Ukrainian online casino license at the triple rate.
The triple rate lasts until the State Online Monitoring System is commissioned, and no instrument fixes that date.
Policy instability. An amendment to draft law No. 15111-d would move gambling policy from the Ministry of Digital Transformation to the Ministry of Finance. The change has not been enacted.
Licensing stopped once already. Issue was frozen from 2024 until the licensing conditions were updated on 1 September 2025.
Firm enforcement. PlayCity fined organisers more than UAH 988,000,000 in its first year. In April 2026 it moved to annul the license of the largest online casino, Cosmolot, over payment breaches. The Kyiv District Administrative Court suspended that decision, so the license stands while the case runs.
Martial law and currency controls. National Bank of Ukraine rules restrict moving profit out of the country.
No offshore route. The licensee must be a Ukrainian resident company with real substance in the jurisdiction.
Why choose MGL
Ukraine punishes weak structuring rather than weak paperwork. MGL has taken 300+ licenses through to issue. On Ukraine the work concentrates where files actually fail: ownership, the origin of the capital, and the order in which the brand, the domain and the entity have to exist.
Structuring the Ukrainian resident company and its UAH 30,000,000 of paid-up capital.
Building the source-of-funds evidence PlayCity accepts, together with the auditor's conclusion.
Screening the ownership chain against the Article 14 aggressor-state prohibitions before anything is filed.
Securing the trademark and the .UA domain in the order the registry requires.
Preparing and filing the package through PlayCity and Diia.
Connecting to the State Online Monitoring System and setting up the anti-money-laundering, responsible-gambling and advertising controls.
MGL does not promise approval, and no adviser can. What we can do is tell you before you spend whether your ownership chain survives Article 14.
How does Ukraine compare with other European gaming licenses?
Ukraine sits at the expensive end of European licensing, with a high entry threshold and close supervision. It is not an alternative to an offshore license, and it is not a route into the European Union. The comparison below sets it against four European jurisdictions operators usually weigh at the same time.
| Jurisdiction | Regulator | License term | Local company required | Operator tax on gambling revenue | Player tax on winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ukraine | PlayCity | 5 years | Yes, Ukrainian resident company | 18% GGR, 10% on slot income, plus 18% profit tax | 23% of the payout |
| Malta | Malta Gaming Authority | 10 years | Yes, Maltese company | 15% on Type 1, 10% on Types 2 to 4, on revenue from players in Malta | None |
| Isle of Man | Gambling Supervision Commission | 5 years | Yes, Isle of Man company | Gaming duty from 1.5% down to 0.1% by band of gross gaming yield | None |
| Estonia | Estonian Tax and Customs Board | Activity license indefinite, operating permit separate | Yes, Estonian or EEA company | 5.5% remote gambling tax in 2026, falling to 4% from 2029 | None on winnings from licensed operators |
| Georgia | Revenue Service of Georgia | 5 years | Yes, Georgian company with local server and office | 5% on revenue from foreign players, 20% on revenue from Georgian players | 5% withholding, waived for foreign players |
Figures for Malta, the Isle of Man, Estonia and Georgia verified September 2026. Full detail sits on each jurisdiction page: Malta, Isle of Man, Estonia and Georgia.
Read the table by what the operator is buying. Malta and the Isle of Man sell reach and reputation, Estonia sells a low rate on remote play, Georgia sells a light charge on players outside the country. Ukraine sells access to Ukrainian players, and prices that access higher than any of them.
FAQ
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Yes. Gambling has been legal in Ukraine since Law No. 768-IX took effect in 2020, and PlayCity regulates it. Operating without a license remains prohibited, and PlayCity blocks unlicensed sites. More than 4,100 illegal gambling sites were blocked during the agency's first year.
No. Only a legal entity resident in Ukraine can hold the license. A foreign group enters by forming and capitalising a Ukrainian company, which it may own. No owner, beneficiary, director or chief accountant may be a citizen or resident of the aggressor state.
A Ukraine online casino license costs 6,500 minimum wages, UAH 56,205,500 across five years, or UAH 11,241,100 a year. Until the State Online Monitoring System is commissioned, the annual instalment is tripled to UAH 33,723,300. That surcharge is the largest single variable in a Ukrainian cost model.
No. Ukraine is not a member of the European Union, and the license authorises gambling on Ukrainian territory only. There is no passporting right into any EU market. An operator serving players in an EU state needs a license issued by that state.
Yes. Article 44 treats casino games on the internet and poker on the internet as two different licenses, each applied for and paid for on its own. Bookmaking works the other way: one license covers betting shops and internet betting together.
A player pays 23% of the whole payout: 18% personal income tax plus a 5% military levy. The operator withholds both at the moment of payment as tax agent. The Tax Code allows no reduction for the stake placed, so the charge falls on the gross amount.
No. Article 44 of Law No. 768-IX lists eleven license types and none of them covers virtual assets. Licensed operators settle with players through their own online system, which reports every transaction to the State Online Monitoring System. Ukraine's virtual-asset rules do not authorise crypto settlement in gambling.
KRAIL, the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, was liquidated by Cabinet Resolution No. 336 of 25 March 2025. Its functions passed to the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity, which began work on 2 June 2025. Guides that still name KRAIL as the regulator are out of date.
Twenty-one. Article 1, paragraph 1, point 17 of Law No. 768-IX defines a player as a natural person who has reached the age of 21 at the moment of participation, and the operator is separately obliged to keep anyone younger out of gambling establishments and out of play. That is three years above the threshold in most jurisdictions on this site, and it also applies to staff and to anyone appearing in gambling advertising.
Tell us which vertical you want and when you plan to file. You get back the instalment you would pay at today's triple rate, and what the same license costs once the system goes live. Two figures, one page, no obligation.