The bill on the legalization of gambling will create opportunities for the development of hotel business in Ukraine and remove illegal gambling establishments from the streets, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
“We will reduce the number of people spending their last money. These are mostly ordinary people. The first stage is a casino in five star hotels, where the license will be expensive to sell at competitions,” the Head of State said during a press marathon.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that hotels where the casinos will be located, should have 200 rooms (in Kyiv) and 150 rooms (in the regions of the country).
“We have five star hotels on the market, but they are very small. There is no way to build a casino yet. We need to test how people will fight for these licenses. We want hotels to be built, ” the President explained.
He noted that today people leave their last money in illegal gambling establishments. “We want remove “gambling history” from the streets,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The bill, as explained by the Head of State, will specify the conditions for placing gambling machine in hotels, the number of rooms, etc.
Funds from gambling, according to the President, will be spent on education, medicine and sports. “For example, we need to build playgrounds and swimming pools in schools this year. Let's give all this money for a license (for gambling. - Ed.) for sports, ” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.