Ukraine’s gambling regulator, PlayCity, is preparing to launch a revamped national self-exclusion register in January 2026, marking a shift toward more practical, enforcement-focused compliance tools for licensed operators.
According to Hennadiy Novikov, head of the State Agency for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, the upgraded system is currently undergoing final acceptance testing. The existing register includes roughly 12,000 individuals, but the new version is designed to be more functional and actively used by gambling operators rather than serving as a purely symbolic responsible-gambling measure.
Novikov said the regulator expects the updated platform to be intuitive and suitable for day-to-day operational use. The goal is for licensed organisers to rely on the register as a real control mechanism, not just a formal requirement.
Restricted access and operational impact for operators
At its core, the register functions as a national “do-not-gamble” list. It includes individuals who have self-excluded voluntarily, those subject to court-ordered restrictions, and cases initiated by close relatives. Due to the sensitive nature of the data, the register will not be publicly accessible.
Access will instead be limited to licensed gambling organisers, who will be legally required to prevent listed individuals from participating. For B2C operators, this effectively turns the register into a mandatory operational checkpoint. Platforms will need to integrate it into account registration, deposits, and gameplay controls, with sufficient logging and audit capabilities to satisfy regulatory inspections.
Focus shifts to adoption and awareness
Once the updated register goes live, the regulator’s next priority will be scaling its use. Novikov noted that PlayCity plans to develop a streamlined application process and run awareness efforts to ensure citizens know the exclusion mechanism exists and understand how to use it.
This phase is critical to the system’s effectiveness. A self-exclusion register only reduces harm if enrollment is simple, public awareness is high, and operators can enforce restrictions instantly and consistently across their platforms.
Part of a broader regulatory reset
The register upgrade fits into PlayCity’s wider push toward a more digital, technology-driven regulatory framework. Since its creation, the regulator has positioned itself as part of Ukraine’s broader effort to modernise gambling oversight, with an emphasis on centralised tools and tighter enforcement.
For operators and platform suppliers, the January 2026 timeline creates a clear window to prepare. Required steps may include technical integrations, internal policy updates, staff training, and customer support procedures, particularly for edge cases such as court-imposed bans, reinstatement after exclusion periods, and disputes over blocked accounts.
The key commercial variable will be enforcement consistency. If the regulator backs the new system with inspections and penalties, the register will move beyond a responsible-gambling formality and become a core licensing requirement, influencing KYC processes, payment flows, and marketing suppression logic.
If implemented as planned, the rollout could become one of the first major indicators of whether Ukraine’s restructured regulator can translate regulatory intent into tools that operators actually deploy and that have a measurable impact on player protection.