Ukraine’s regulator, PlayCity, has stepped up its fight against illegal gambling advertising by cultivating a new relationship with the controversial streaming platform Kick.
PlayCity said that it has begun to report channels illegally advertising gambling, leading to two channels being blocked in the last week.
The move builds on the relationship it has with other social media and tech platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Twitch and Google. However, Kick has been a particularly tricky thorn in the side of stakeholders seeking to curtail the promotion of the black market.
The platform is owned by Easygo Entertainment – the same company that founded Stake – and was formed as a competitor to Twitch when the latter updated its policy to prohibit the promotion of unlicensed operators.
However, since then, both of Easygo’s companies have received significant criticism.
Most recently, research shared by Entain name-checked Stake as being one of 30 different unregulated gambling websites with UK-facing promotional activity, alongside other names that will be familiar to social media users, such as Rainbet and Duelbits.
Meanwhile, Entain described Kick as a ‘central hub of the illegal gambling influencer ecosystem’ through hosting a dedicated gambling category with minimal age verification and ‘acting as a launchpad’ for content to be shared across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Bejay Patel, Managing Director of UK and Ireland at Entain, said: “This research is a wake-up call to government, regulators and law enforcement agencies that illegal gambling promotion is not operating at the fringes but is now operating at scale in the UK.
“It also raises serious questions about whether regulators and enforcement agencies have the powers and resources needed to tackle the highly coordinated illegal gambling promotion effectively, particularly across global social media platforms.”
PlayCity celebrates first anniversary
PlayCity was appointed as Ukraine’s gambling regulator in June 2025.
Reflecting on its first year in charge, PlayCity emphasised the need for ‘a systematic approach to work with legal businesses’, as well as constant pressure on the illegal sector.
PlayCity noted that it has blocked over 4,100 illegal gambling sites since June 2025 and has established a section of its website for consumers to report illegal gambling advertising. It has also blocked access to 785 profiles on social media and streaming platforms has been blocked in the last year.
“This format of communication is an effective tool for quickly stopping violations and attracting users to gambling through illegal advertising campaigns,” said PlayCity.