SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has completed the formal appointment of executives who will form the government’s founding ‘Ukrainian Gambling & Lottery Commission’ (UGLC).
Through the appointments, the Commission will establish its leadership structures as Ukraine prepares to launch the application and licensing process of the federally approved ‘Ukraine Gambling Law’ in 2021.
As previously disclosed by cabinet leader Oleg Nemchinov, the UGLC will be led by former Ukraine special forces general Ivan Rudyi, who will serve as the Commission’s first Director-General.
Rudyi will lead an executive team of six members with diverse expertise and direct experience in law, public policy development, international relations, IT, enterprise management and criminal prosecution.
High profile figures amongst UGLC’s executive leadership team include former Ukraine NATO representative Yevhen Hetman and The Ukrainian Bar’s lead associate Olena Vodolazhko.
The selected candidates are yet to ‘pass special tests’ before their appointments become officially sanctioned by the government. The Cabinet of Ministers has chosen not to reveal what special criteria must be met by the chosen candidates.
Once established, the UGLC will begin to recruit for 230 positions to support its department across Ukraine’s provinces, in which the agency will seek to appoint six regional directors who will report to the UGLC headquarters in Kyiv.
Under the mandate of the Gambling Law, the UGLC’s regulatory development will be supervised by an independent advisory overseeing how the agency has carried out its duties with regards to licensing and the monitoring of operator conduct and market standards.
Observing on-the-ground developments, Kyiv- based law firm 4H Agency stated that the Commission is expected to pass Ukraine gambling’s licensing conditions shortly ‘as the drafts of which have been submitted last week for public discussions as part of the legislative process’.
