Alexander Danilyuk intends to bring the lottery market out of the shadow and remove Russian operators from it.
On May 25, the Ministry of Finance transferred the draft of licensing conditions developed for the operators of the lottery market for approval to the Cabinet of Ministers. The message about it was lost in the news tape full of loud arrests and no less loud releases, and the excitement did not cause. Meanwhile, the price of the document developed by the ministry of Alexander Danilyuk - several billion hryvnas of additional budget revenues per year. And besides - the way out of the shadow of corruption and criminogenic 40-billion gambling market and a red card to Russian oligarchs, still controlling the lion's share of this market.
Since 2012, the lottery market in Ukraine operates on semi-legal schemes. In September 2012, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill of the Ministry of Finance (which was then directed by Kolobov) about lotteries. The bill actually provided an opportunity to conduct a banned in Ukraine gaming business under the guise of lotteries. However, the key problem of the bill was not even this, but the fact that the operators whose license term expired were allowed to work under the old licenses, until the Ministry of Finance developed new licensing terms. This mechanism described in detail the transitional provisions built into the bill.
The main beneficiaries of the "family" scheme were two Russian companies, by 2012 they concentrated control over more than 90% of the Ukrainian lottery market. The bill allowed them to develop on a legal basis a network of gambling establishments and minimize tax deductions. The market shared the company "Patriot" and "M". L, affiliated with the billionaires close to the Kremlin. In 2013, the term of the licenses of companies ended, but the Ministry of Finance was in no hurry to prepare new licensing terms. Much more surprising was the fact that after the victory of the Maidan, the revolutionary finance ministers Alexander Shlapak and Natalya Yaresko also did not develop new licensing conditions. Instead, the society was offered rhetoric about the need to adopt a new law on lotteries and the game business as a whole. The ministers spoke about the difficulties of consensus on the issue of this law and the impossibility of its adoption by the parliament.
As a result, the last five years, the lottery market (and in fact the gambling market) continued to flourish. As you know, gaming pavilions occupy the best areas in most Ukrainian cities. That's just the state from this rapid development receives insignificant dividends, the budget from the powerful financial flows are leaving pathetic drops. According to the GFS, in 2014 the total turnover of the lottery market reached 12.4 billion UAH. At the same time, taxes to the budget from this amount were paid less than 3% - 318 million. UAH. The real volume of the gambling market is estimated by the Ministry of Finance at 40 billion. In addition, Russian operators retained their presence in the market. Despite the fact that "Patriot" and "M". L "are in the list of companies against which Ukraine imposed sanctions, a legal conflict with the absence of new licensing conditions allows them to conduct economic activities.
Three years after the Maidan, only the acting minister of finance, Aleksandr Danilyuk, decided to break the scheme launched by the "Family". First of all, the new licensing conditions developed by the Ministry of Finance will close access to the market for Russian operators. They simply will not be able to obtain new licenses - as companies under sanctions.
The advantage of the proposed by the Ministry of Finance was its transparency and obvious financial advantage for the state. Thus, the new licensing conditions involve the entry by market operators of fees for the right to conduct activity in the organization of lotteries. The fixed part of the fee for the license is 168 million 400 thousand UAH (100 thousand minimum subsistence minimums). Also, annual fixed payments will be levied from the distribution points of lotteries. Thus, only one company can receive more than 200 million. Hryvnia from fixed tax alone.
Finally, the project of the Ministry of Finance will allow Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Privat and other state banks to conduct state lotteries. This will promote the development of competition in the market and the growth of state revenues. It is assumed that state-owned banks will take the place of "M. L "and" Patriot ".
Alexander Danilyuk is known as a supporter of the economic detenization. Once again, the Minister declared his position in the author's column on "The Economic Truth". In particular, Danilyuk called the four main priorities, in his opinion, for the country - the introduction of pension and land reform, the launch of large and small privatization and the completion of the tax reform. With the minister's vision it is difficult not to agree, but it is obvious that the Rada is unlikely to support the introduction of a free land market and pension reform. The confrontation between the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Property Fund. But in the zone of its influence - administrative and tax regulation, the minister has shown the ability to carry out very concrete steps to the economy's detenization.
However, we will wait for the approval of the draft new licensing terms by the Cabinet of Ministers. Russian operators and shadow igroviki, four years successfully working without licensing, yet do not consider battle lost.
Join the "Observer" group on Facebook, stay tuned!.