In the Ukraine, legislators are still wrestling with where gambling will be permitted following the total ban imposed last year.
On January 18 this year the subject was again discussed as lawmakers tried to delineate specific areas of the country where, following the Russian model, gambling might once again be permitted.
Against the wishes of the country’s president, Viktor Yuschenko, and a protesting gambling industry, the Ukrainian parliament approved a law banning the operation of gambling businesses on May 15, 2009. Yuschenko vetoed the law on June 4, igniting a furious political backlash that led to parliament overiding his veto, compelling the head of the state to sign the law into force on June 23.
The measure could be described as a temporary ban, because it makes provision for gambling to be permitted in special zones yet to be delineated by the Cabinet of Ministers, which was required to draft within three months a special law specifying the gambling zones.