PlayCity “Regulates”: Russian Casinos Operate Freely in Ukraine

In the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine remains occupied in yet another sphere — by Russian online casinos. They operate openly, advertise on Ukrainian media platforms, and face no real resistance from the state.

In this context, Capital sent an official request to PlayCity, the newly established gambling regulator. We did not ask about illegal operators using domains registered abroad. Instead, we highlighted the most striking case: the Russian casino 1WIN, which operates from Ukraine’s own national domain zone, .ua.

In response, agency head Hennadii Novikov confirmed that on July 16, the 1WIN websites under the .ua domain were included in the official blacklist of resources to be blocked.

But a month has passed. As of August 16, these sites remain fully accessible in Ukraine.

Capital followed up with a second request: why, despite the official decision, are the sites still online? PlayCity replied that the responsibility for blocking rests with internet providers, and oversight is carried out by the National Commission for Electronic Communications (NKEC). PlayCity stressed that, in case of non-compliance, the NKEC has the authority to impose sanctions.

This position appears paradoxical. If the central body created specifically to regulate gambling merely forwards letters to other institutions, one obvious question arises: what is the point of the regulator itself? Its mission should be to enforce compliance with the law — not to formally shift responsibility. Otherwise, it is not regulation, but imitation.

We also asked about advertising. After all, 1WIN ads are widely placed on dozens of Ukrainian websites and popular Telegram channels. We directly asked: what steps does PlayCity intend to take against Ukrainian media outlets that run ads for 1WIN?

To avoid formal excuses, we attached six screenshots from various sites and channels where such advertising appeared. Among them was a screenshot from the Telegram channel Vsevidyashche Oko 18+ (“All-Seeing Eye 18+”).

In its response, PlayCity singled out only this one example and wrote that “no violations were recorded on the Vsevidyashche Oko 18+ channel.” The rest of the screenshots were effectively ignored.

Such a selective approach looks telling. By dismissing multiple other pieces of evidence, the regulator effectively defended the one resource long associated with businessman Maksym Krippa. In political circles, many believe he enjoys a particularly close relationship with Digital Minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s team — the very group behind the creation of PlayCity.

Never has the cover-up come so close to collapsing.

If PlayCity does not know how to use Google, we are doing it for them. Below are the very screenshots that the editorial team officially submitted to the agency. They clearly show: ads for the Russian casino 1WIN are freely published on Ukrainian websites and public channels.

The particularity of the 1WIN case lies in its use of Ukraine’s national domain, .ua — making the situation especially outrageous.

Yet 1WIN is only the tip of the iceberg. In Ukraine, dozens of other platforms tied to the Russian market operate simultaneously. All of them are freely accessible to Ukrainian users, and no one bears responsibility for violating official bans. These bans exist only on paper — another element of state “control” reduced to imitation.

Context

The PlayCity Agency was created in May 2025 as Ukraine’s new central authority on gambling regulation. It replaced the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL), which was dissolved following multiple corruption scandals and charges of inactivity. The former head of KRAIL and his deputy are currently in pre-trial detention in a case involving cooperation with the Russian gambling operator Pin-Up.

That scandal became the key justification for reforming the regulator. PlayCity was supposed to symbolize “new transparency” and prove that Ukraine could control its gambling market. But the first months of its work tell a different story: formal decisions are made, but no real enforcement follows.

And this is happening during wartime, as Russian casinos freely profit from Ukrainian users. The growing impression is that the new regulator risks repeating the fate of its predecessor — only with a different nameplate.