PlayCity Employees Will Be Checked for Integrity, and the Head Will Be Appointed Through a Competition

A draft law No. 15432 "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of the Authorized Body’s Work in the Field of Organization and Conduct of Gambling and Lottery Activities" has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada. Its main goal is to change the approach to the work of the state body responsible for regulating the gambling and state lottery market.

In fact, the document proposes an institutional reboot of the State Agency of Ukraine PlayCity by introducing a new model for selecting its head, an independent audit system, and additional mechanisms to control the integrity of officials.

The authors of the legislative initiative note that the gambling sector remains one of the most corruption-prone and is significant for filling the state budget. At the same time, a number of reforms provided by current legislation have not yet been completed.

One of the main problems is the lack of full operation of the State Online Monitoring System. It was supposed to ensure automatic control over the activities of gambling organizers, betting volumes, winnings payouts, and tax payments.

An exception for PlayCity is proposed during martial law

Current legislation provides that during martial law, competitions for civil service positions are suspended. The draft law proposes to make a special exception specifically for positions in PlayCity. Thus, an open competition for the head of the agency can be held even during martial law.

As stated in the explanatory note, maintaining the practice of appointment without competitive selection does not allow ensuring proper institutional capacity of the body.

The competition will be conducted using the selection model for the director of the Economic Security Bureau (ESB)

The document proposes using the mechanism already applied in selecting the director of the Economic Security Bureau. The competition commission will consist of seven members:

• three representatives of international organizations
• three representatives appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers
• one representative of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.

The commission meetings are proposed to be open to journalists and the public, with real-time video broadcasting. Information about the time and place of the commission meeting will be published on the official website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine no later than 24 hours before it begins.

During the competition, candidates will undergo document verification, testing, practical tasks, interviews, and special checks.

Based on the results, the commission can recommend no more than two candidates to the Cabinet of Ministers. Funding for the commission’s activities, its members, and their assistants may come from international technical assistance.

Additional requirements will be set for the head

The draft law details the requirements for the future head of the agency. In particular, the candidate must have: a master’s degree, at least ten years of total work experience, at least five years in managerial positions, impeccable business reputation, and confirmed integrity.

A list of grounds that prevent appointment is also defined. These include criminal convictions, reaching the age of 65, being held liable for corruption offenses, foreign citizenship, failure to submit declarations, significant alimony arrears, and other restrictions.

Also, the head and employees of the Authorized Body, as well as their close relatives, cannot be directly or indirectly owners of corporate rights of gambling organizers, state lottery operators, gaming equipment manufacturers, or service providers in the gambling sector, receive financial or material rewards or assistance from them, or hold any position in the structural units of gambling organizers or state lottery operators, including on a voluntary basis.

It is envisaged that the head will work for five years and cannot hold the position for more than two consecutive terms.

Employees will be checked for integrity

A separate block of changes concerns the entire staff of PlayCity. The draft law provides for the possibility of conducting integrity checks, lifestyle monitoring, and special checks during appointments.

Negative results of such checks may be grounds for disciplinary liability of a civil servant. In addition, agency employees will have to undergo professional development at least once every two years.

After receiving the submission of the competition commission with information about the candidates selected based on the competition results, the Cabinet of Ministers within 10 days appoints the head of the Authorized Body at an open meeting, who is considered the winner of the competition.

PlayCity’s work will be audited by international auditors

Another innovation will be an independent external audit of the agency’s activities. It is planned to be conducted twice – one year after the appointment of the head and again after three years. The audit commission will be formed by international experts. They will have the right to analyze the agency’s documents, work with information from the State Online Monitoring System, conduct interviews with employees, and request necessary materials from other state bodies.

If the audit finds the agency’s work ineffective, this may be grounds for dismissal of the head.

The explanatory note states that the adoption of the law will not require additional state budget expenditures. At the same time, it is expected that the reform will allow: forming new PlayCity leadership on a competitive basis, completing the launch of the State Online Monitoring System, strengthening state control over the gambling and lottery market, reducing corruption risks, formalizing the market, increasing tax revenues to the budget, and raising international partners' trust in state regulation of this sector.

When the new rules may come into effect

So far, draft law No. 15432 has only been registered in the Verkhovna Rada. It must still be reviewed by the relevant committee, and only after that can it be brought for consideration at a session by the people’s deputies.

The changes proposed by the document effectively mean a reboot of the state body responsible for regulating the gambling and lottery market. The authors of the draft law hope that the new management model will make this sector more transparent, complete the launch of the online monitoring system, strengthen control over market operators, and reduce opportunities for corrupt abuses.

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