Ukrainian Hryvnia Casinos
Given Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European community, it is no surprise that many players in the country often adopt the euro as their currency of choice. However, the recently established online gambling laws do make it quite clear that all legal, licensed, and secure Ukrainian online casinos must offer their players the chance to use the hryvnia.
The national currency of Ukraine has been in use since 1996. The currency gets its name from the fact that it was once a unit of measure (weight) by the Kievan Rus of the Middle Ages. The grivna (hryvnia today) has been in use in some form or another since the eleventh century, making it an extremely old currency.
Casino List with UAH Currency
About the Ukrainian Hryvnia in Gambling
The Ukrainian hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiyok and follows relatively the same structure as US dollars, British pounds sterling, euros, and other basic currencies. Officially, the currency uses the three-letter abbreviation UAH and the symbol ₴. Before the currency’s symbol being launched in 2005, the hryvnia used the Cyrillic abbreviation of грн.
Since the currency first replaced karbovanets in 1996, the Ukrainian hryvnia has been in use. Of course, the self-declared and the unrecognised Republic of Crimea has since dropped to the Russian rouble. It is worth noting that despite the annexation, the Donbas region of Donetsk and Luhansk still use the hryvnia. No other countries are known to use Ukrainian hryvnia, either officially or unofficially.
For most of its recent history, Ukraine has forbidden gambling. However, in 2020, new gambling laws were brought in to create a fully regulated industry. Alongside having to apply for a Ukrainian gambling license, each casino and betting site must facilitate transactions using UAH.
Online Gambling in Ukraine
Ukraine is now a country where online gambling is fully legalised and regulated. A law change in 2020 overruled that from 2009 when Yuliia Tymoshenko banned all gambling. Today, online casino, sports betting, poker, and other games are legal, assuming the operator has acquired a Ukrainian gambling license. The cost of these five-year licenses is set to ₴23,600,000. Operators do not need to be based in Ukraine, and the country adopts a policy that is largely like those found in Scandinavian countries.
Popular Banking Methods with the Ukrainian Hryvnia
Now that the industry is fully regulated, Ukrainian gamblers should have no issues trying to find a payment method that processes their payments in UAH. By and large, most of the same payment methods can be used there that you will find elsewhere. The following options have typically proven popular with players in Ukrainian hryvnia casinos:
- Credit/debit cards (VISA and MasterCard, alongside VISA Electron, are accepted)
- E-Wallets (Skrill, Neteller, EcoPayz, but also PayPal)
- Prepaid vouchers (Paysafecard, but only good for deposits)
- Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin is tolerated as a payment method)
- Others (WebMoney and ЮMoney are popular options with Ukrainian bettors)
