Ukraine online casinos for Real Money

Under normal operation, the Ukrainian Gambling Council has the power to issue gambling licenses to land-based and online operators. This is the same authority for sports betting and casino games; you name it. As of 2020, Ukrainian gambling licenses span land-based casinos, slot halls, sports betting and horse racing betting, poker, online casino, online poker, lotteries, and betting shops (land-based sports). Any operator interested in obtaining an online casino license must first have a gambling table and slot machine license beforehand.
Thankfully, there is no maximum cap on the number of licenses the UGC can award. There are terms that must be adhered to, though, which effectively limit the number of operators. Firstly, any casino must have a five-star hotel (in Kyiv) or a four-star hotel (elsewhere) attached. For an online casino license, the cost is $1.15m (for a single site), with licenses valid for five years. Sports betting licenses are marginally cheaper, while poker licenses are the cheapest of all, at just $170,000 over five years.
The size of Ukraine’s pre-war population made applying for a Ukrainian license worthwhile for the biggest operators, although smaller-scale ones chose to stay out of the market. At the current time, it is impossible to say what the situation will look like regarding licenses and online casinos in the future, as we’re sure you can understand.

Ukraine is home to a handful of casino software providers. However, as you can imagine, some of these are now based outside the country, most notably in the UK and the European Union. Ukrainians don’t have a clear preference when it comes to gambling games. Some favour slots and many prefer RNG table games and sports. If there was one table game that has proven immensely popular with Ukrainians more than any other, it is poker – specifically Texas Hold ‘em poker.
Because Ukrainians like to dabble in all manner of gambling games, you won’t be surprised to learn that Ukraine-licensed casinos tend to offer you a little bit of everything. Expect such sites to provide sports betting and casino options under one roof, especially if the operator is a major international site.

Ukraine uses the hryvnia. This is not one of the world’s most popular currencies, but it is essential at Ukraine-licensed online casinos. If you choose to head to offshore casinos, then you’re likely going to use the euro or US dollar. Even though many Ukrainians speak Russian as a second language, the Russian rouble was never overly popular with bettors online. Payment methods include credit and debit cards, e-wallets such as Neteller and Skrill, but also prepaid vouchers, and even mobile payment options such as Zimpler, Beeline, Megafon, Tele2 and MTS.
Ukraine does have gambling taxes in place, both for operators and players. In fact, the gambling tax on players is notably high at 18%. This is considered an “income tax”, not specifically a gambling tax. Therefore, anything you win is subject to the 18% income tax rate, and casinos will not withhold that amount for you. Notably, while the law technically applies to offshore casinos, too, the authorities don’t seem too bothered about wins worth less than €10,000.

Ukrainian online casinos are typically only available to players inside the country. However, as of 2023, all Ukraine online casinos (and gambling in general) are typically suspended, and internet connectivity is scarce at best. Online casinos based outside of Ukraine were previously blocked by the country’s security services. It is not currently known whether this is still the case, although we’d imagine so.
Despite the security blocks, it was (and probably still is where internet connectivity is normal) very much possible to play at offshore casinos if you utilised a VPN. However, given the array of decent online casinos licensed in Ukraine, there wasn’t really a need to visit too many offshore sites to find something fun, licensed, safe and fair to play. This will likely be the case in the future.