Ukrainian Casino Chief Says Gambling Not Rife in Military Amid Calls for Betting Ban

Ukrainian casino industry officials have dismissed reports that gambling is rife in the country’s armed forces.

Officials said that military personnel “gamble no more than the average Ukrainian.” They added that gambling addiction is not widespread in the military, “or unique to any group, including military personnel,” the Ukrainian media outlets NV and Interfax-Ukraine reported.

An industry chief called on Kyiv to reject lawmakers’ calls to ban military personnel from visiting online casino platforms.

Alexander Kogut, President of the Association of Ukrainian Gaming Operators (AUOGB), said: “A decision to restrict military personnel would be a boon to illegal operators. Lobbyists for the illegal market would start popping the champagne corks. Because such a ban would not stop people in the military from gambling.”

The state budget would also take a hit from such a ban, Kogut said, while “legal, license-holding operators would suffer significant losses.”

Ukrainian Casino Chief: Ban Would Backfire

The AUOGB chief cited a recent survey conducted by the UK-based research firm Kantar to back up his claims. He said the study found that military personnel’s gambling patterns “are very much similar to those of the general public.”

The study found that although soldiers are less likely to place bets on online casino platforms, the average soldier spends more on bets than civilians do. The Kantar survey found that soldiers typically spend almost 15% more on gambling platforms than non-military civilians.

The AUOGB said this was a “logical” phenomenon, as military personnel earn higher average salaries than the general public.

“Sociological data does not suggest that the problem of gambling addiction among the military is widespread or unique,” Kogut said.

The study’s authors said they spoke to men and women aged 18-69 who had used gambling services in the past three months.

“Ukrainians tend to overestimate the prevalence of gambling among military personnel,” the study’s authors wrote. “More than 50% consider it a widespread phenomenon, although only about 20-25% personally know someone in the military who has ever gambled.”

‘Security Risks’

For the moment, regulators appear to be taking the gambling industry’s side.

Gennady Novikov, the head of the State Agency for Control of Gambling and Lottery Business in Ukraine (PlayCity), agreed illegal betting sites would stand to win should a ban materialize.

“If we ban legal online casinos for the military and do nothing about the illegal market, there is a high risk that a significant portion of the market will simply move underground,” Novikov said.

The industry chief claimed a rise in illegal online casinos could also have a significant negative impact on national security.

“Ninety percent of illegal platforms originate in Russia,” Kogut said. “Russian platforms are commissioned by Russian intelligence agencies. The Russians can easily use these as platforms to illegally collect data on our military personnel.”

The AUOIB chief said Moscow could use data like this to recruit spies.

He said: “Do we really want our military personnel gambling on Russian websites and ending up being recruited [as spies for Moscow]?”

Kogut concluded that the AUOIB will commission a follow-up study later this year, with the Responsible Gambling Center, another Ukrainian gambling industry group, also set to carry out its own research in the months ahead.

In December last year, PlayCity announced that it had blocked residents’ access to more than 2,500 illegal online casinos.