SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Four draft laws have been presented to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), which has set about establishing a new federal tax framework for gambling services.
Nevertheless, industry observers appear unimpressed with the draft provisions to modify Ukraine’s tax code, in support of this month’s redrafted and approved Bill 2285-D, which will lay the foundations of ‘Ukraine’s Gambling Law’.
The ‘main tax draft’ favoured by the government seeks to establish a 10% gross gambling rate (GGR) across all licensed verticals. However, at present the draft does not specify tax charges for online poker and maintains little transparency on taxing individual land-based casino services.
Despite doubts being cast on the main tax draft, alternatives presented to Rada detail no improvement for Ukraine’s business community.
Of the three ‘alternative drafts’, one tax framework proposes a 22% GGR charge on lotteries combined with a further 12.5% tax rate on sportsbook services.
Meanwhile, Ukraine stakeholders will hope that the government moves to entirely dismiss an alternative draft which recommends implementing an unworkable 25% GGR across all licensed verticals.
Ukraine’s SoP government seeks to establish a new industry tax code, which will sit alongside the nation’s 18% corporate tax rate.
At present, Ukraine’s SoP government maintains its timetable for regulating its gambling marketplace in 2020. Furthermore, the federal tax amendments published this week have yet to be reviewed by Rada for their first reading.
Despite amending the Gambling Law’s licensing conditions in a bid to attract foreign investment, international observers have remained doubtful of Ukraine’s market development as the government maintains a complex and expensive licensing fee structure.
