The gambling industry (gambling for money) is surrounded by many legends about fabulous winnings, ways to cheat slot machines, incredible ruins of players. Let's try to figure out what is true in these legends and what is a lie, looking at this specific sphere from the inside.


Slot machines and video slots on the Internet have existed for more than a dozen years and are confidently ahead of roulette, classic card games (poker, blackjack) and other traditional casino entertainment in popularity. Ukraine is no exception in this regard. Despite any restrictions and prohibitions, there is no shortage of people willing to try their luck in the country. And where there is demand, there is supply! And if land-based gambling points until recently experienced serious difficulties with the legislative regulation of their activities, then on the Internet for Ukrainian gambling thrill-seekers there was a real expanse!

 

Who plays slot machines
 

There is unofficial statistics, according to which over a third of Ukrainians devote time to slot machines at least once a month. Moreover, they are played not only by men who are characterized by excitement, but also by women who, by nature, are inherent in rational thinking in relation to money. Here is what a typical representative of this category, 28-year-old Kiev resident Olga Grivko, says:

“In the gaming halls I visit, you can see men and women of different ages and social status. I have not met, perhaps, schoolchildren and decrepit old people. But I saw a lot of men and women of retirement age or so. Often with my own eyes I saw pregnant girls playing! "

 

Olga herself does not belong to the category of disadvantaged citizens. She is married, works in the accounting department of a commercial company, and has a 3-year-old child. According to her, the first time she went to the game room with her husband to while away the time before the train departure. “The win was small, literally for beer, but the time flew by quickly!” She says. “At first I came only with my husband, and even then - from time to time. And then I didn't care, with or without him. I didn't even feel that I had a craving for the game. She often came to the hall secretly from her husband, coming up with all sorts of reasons for absence from home. " When asked who plays slot machines, she laughingly replies: “Yes, almost everything! At least half of our block of flats spend almost all their free time at the machines, some in the halls and some on the Internet. "

 

Is it profitable to own "one-armed bandits"
 

Since 2009, slot machines and online casinos in Ukraine have been officially banned at the legislative level. Nevertheless, semi-legal and underground slot machine halls could be found without much difficulty. Not to mention the numerous online casinos, the abundance of which was simply amazing!

 

The situation radically changed in favor of seekers of gambling sensations in the summer of 2020, when the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on the legalization of gambling in the country. Today, in theory, everyone can open the slot machine hall. True, this will require solid financial investments:

 

payment of a 5-year license from the Ministry of Finance (60,000 minimum wages for Kiev, 30,000 - for the rest of the country);
an annual fee for each installed slot machine (€ 1,020 per machine).
 

However, judging by the fact that one of the country's leaders in this market - the Favbet company - hastened to take advantage of the opportunities that have opened up, owning slot machines is a very profitable business. Moreover, the license also applies to activities on the Internet, where the overhead costs are much lower. According to market experts, today gambling activities are carried out on a legal basis by about 20 operators of various calibers.

For a long time, the game was a movement that occurred only in the exclusive casinos. Not every person could pay or access these places. Online gambling, which turned into a reality around 1995, allowed