The State Agency PlayCity has imposed serious financial sanctions on LLC “UAF Marketing,” issuing a fine of nearly 5.2 million hryvnias. The reason for this decision was a gross violation of current Ukrainian legislation in the field of gambling advertising distribution and promotion, which was recorded during a large-scale advertising campaign.
Essence of Violations and Ukrainian Cup Advertising Campaign
The financial penalty was imposed following the monitoring of advertising integrations of an online casino acting as the official title sponsor of the Ukrainian Football Cup for the 2026/2027 seasons. During the inspection, the regulator revealed that the brand's promotional materials were actively distributed via the Ukrainian Association of Football's account on the Threads social network, yet this profile is not officially registered in the special Register of Entities in the Media Sphere.Lack of Labeling and Age Restrictions
In addition to issues with media platform registration, PlayCity inspectors recorded a complex of related violations on the organization's key internet resources. Specifically, the official UAF website and the association's verified pages on Instagram and YouTube completely lacked the legally mandatory age restriction warning "21+." Furthermore, the advertising layouts themselves did not contain the state-mandated warning theses regarding the risks of participating in gambling.Responsibility and Regulator's Reaction
Representatives of the state agency emphasized that the gambling promotion sector is strictly regulated by Ukrainian legislation, and any attempts to bypass established norms entail inevitable liability. The imposed fine of nearly UAH 5.2 million takes into account the entirety of identified violations committed within a single advertising campaign and aims to demonstrate the unacceptability of neglecting consumer information security rules.
