{"id":48238,"date":"2017-04-11T17:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T00:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=48238"},"modified":"2017-04-11T16:52:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T23:52:19","slug":"ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Must Legalize Gambling to Help Justify $17.5 billion IMF Assistance Package"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>Ukraine has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it is ready to legalize gambling<\/a> next year and, more importantly, ready to capitalize on the ensuing economic benefits.<\/p>\n

The move comes as part of a series of economic reforms designed to convince the IMF that the country is worthy of a $17.5 billion financial assistance package.<\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman believes that Ukraine is on the up, but it still has to convince the IMF, and it can start by legalizing gambling. (Image: Politico Europe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ukraine received the first $1 billion installment of the package this week, but following a review of the state of the country\u2019s economy, the IMF emphasized it must \u201cbreak with the legacy of weak governance and stop-and-go reforms\u201d in order to generate sustainable growth.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has been beset by economic, military and political problems over the past 20 years, not least in 2014 when a revolution toppled the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, precipitating the Russian annexation of Crimea.<\/p>\n

2015 Bill Failed<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe economic and social costs of the crisis have been high,\u201d said the IMF mission chief for Ukraine, Ron van Rooden. \u201cThe government has undertaken important reforms under very difficult circumstances, but it has to do much more to recover the lost ground, to bring incomes closer to those in the neighboring states, to improve social conditions, and to build a modern market economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The economy is showing slow progress since the recession of 2014-15 and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said the country will begin to witness the benefit of reforms over the next 12 months. Although it probably doesn\u2019t bode well that the chief of the Ukrainian Central Bank, Valeria Gontareva, resigned on Monday, claiming her \u201cjob was done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The country introduced a draft gambling bill in 2015 that would have opened up the market to land-based casinos, sports betting and online gambling, in the hope that reforms would generate $1.5 billion per year for the economy.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But protests from operators at unrealistically high licensing fees and taxes effectively killed the legislation off. Ukraine has little choice but to do it right this year and to do it quickly.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Crimea\u2026 <\/b><\/h2>\n

Across the border, plans are afoot to begin work on transforming the annexed Crimea into Russia\u2019s newest \u201cgambling zone,\u201d which hopes to draw international tourists to future casinos built around the port city of Yalta.<\/p>\n

The new zone, according to Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov, is designed to skirt the international economic sanctions imposed on Russia<\/a> after it seized control of the territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain arrangements that will make it possible [for investors] to bypass the sanctions,\u201d Aksyonov told the TASS news service this week. \u201cI will keep quiet about such secrets for now. Nobody will agree to invest in this project if there were doubts this plan might not work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukraine has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it is ready to legalize gambling next year and, more importantly, ready to capitalize on the ensuing economic benefits. The move comes as part of a series of economic reforms designed to convince the IMF that the country is worthy of a $17.5 billion financial assistance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":48239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUkraine Must Legalize Gambling to Help Justify $17.5 billion IMF Assistance Package<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"International Monetary Fund warns Ukraine it needs to do more to generate sustainable growth and legalized gambling is part of the plan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukraine Must Legalize Gambling to Help Justify $17.5 billion IMF Assistance Package\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"International Monetary Fund warns Ukraine it needs to do more to generate sustainable growth and legalized gambling is part of the plan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-12T00:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-11T23:52:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/h_52855648-1200x628.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/\",\"name\":\"Ukraine Must Legalize Gambling to Help Justify $17.5 billion IMF Assistance Package\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/h_52855648-1200x628.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-12T00:00:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-11T23:52:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"International Monetary Fund warns Ukraine it needs to do more to generate sustainable growth and legalized gambling is part of the plan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraine-must-legalize-gambling-help-justify-17-5-billion-imf-assistance-package\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/h_52855648-1200x628.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/h_52855648-1200x628.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman believes that Ukraine is on the up, but it still has to convince the IMF, and it can start by legalizing gambling. 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