Ukraine May Ban Online Gambling for Military Members

Soldiers in Ukraine may not be able to legally gamble online during their time of service, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is considering placing a ban on the activity for servicemembers.

The president made the announcement for the possibility of the ban during a television broadcast on April 2nd, and came after a Ukrainian soldier asked for the change online last week. That petition got more than 26,000 votes in less than a day, and thereby required presidential consideration as part of the country's laws.

During the address, Zelensky said: "I have instructed the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Special Communications Service, the Digital Transformation Ministry and the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council to collect all the analytics on this issue and propose a solution next week."

The soldier who submitted the petition is Pavlo Petrychenko, who said that gambling: "becomes the only way to cope with stress and therefore quickly causes dopamine addiction and weakens their self-control."

Petrychenko says that soldiers who end up betting have found themselves in debt and then are pawning off military equipment, including drones and thermal cameras. There have been allegations that some gambling companies target military personnel by using military logos. Other charges are out that accuse Russian betting operators of targeting Ukrainian soldiers, who gather data and use debts as a means of blackmail.

Casino Listings News is following this story and we'll be updating readers as we learn more.