Games in the Armed Forces: Why do combat commanders are alarmed and power does not work?
The third year of a full -scale war, constant stress without a full recovery makes the soldiers more vulnerable to such entertainment. Gambling has turned for many into stress medicines and an adrenaline source. The first publicly about the problem of Ludomania (game dependence-ed. ) Aero-intelligence soldiers from the 59th Brigade Pavel Petrychenko declared among the soldiers of the Armed Forces.
In order to overcome the phenomenon, he proposed to introduce a register and process of verification of players at the time of martial law. It would be necessary to limit the range of users who receive salaries in military units, he advises. Aero-intelligence gave an example of the consequences of capturing online casinos. One of the fighters is only 700 thousand hryvnias. It is unknown how much he lost money and how often he took out loans.
Petrychenko emphasizes that his unit is carefully monitored for the captures of the soldiers and carry out work with them. Following Petrychenko, the topic of Ludmania in the Armed Forces was picked up by the People's Deputy from "Euro Solodarity" Alexei Goncharenko. The politician stated that 9 out of 10 soldiers on the forefront allegedly have problems with online games.
The People's Deputy warned about problems for soldiers in the future: fighters earn more than 100 thousand hryvnias a month, but instead of buying a home, investing or simple accumulation, money will simply lose money. Upon returning to the "citizen" of money, an increased sense of justice and misunderstanding of society can lead to the soldier will attract the criminal world. No one can prohibit gambling, as it is the constitutional right of every Ukrainian.
Pavel Petrychenko went further and registered a petition on March 29 with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky about restrictions on online casino. The text provides for gambling and access to servicemen to online casinos during martial law, as well as prohibit the advertising of these products using military symbols. "There are times when playing military personnel spend all cash supplies and take micro -loans on games, bringing themselves and families into a debt pit.
Or take drones and thermal imagers to the pawnshops, causing harm not only to themselves but also to the brothers," he says, "he says . In addition, many Russian online casinos are specifically targeting advertising for Ukraine. The aggressor country receives personal data of servicemen and other citizens, which threatens the National Security of Ukraine. In just a few hours, Petrichenko's petition has gained the necessary 25,000 votes for consideration.
In response, Zelensky instructed the heads of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Secretariat, the Ministry of Defense and the Secretary of the National Security Service of Ukraine to collect all the analytics on this issue and to work out the decision next week. The Verkhovna Rada does not yet think about the legislative mechanisms of regulation of Ludmania in the army, says focus a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Fedor Venislavsky.
"Even from a legal point of view, it is difficult for me to imagine it. How to control a person's entrance to online casinos and similar things? . The focus requested the Gambling and Lottery Regulation Commission (Drots) to explain whether it is possible to influence the situation with Ludmania in the Armed Forces and whether access to online casino for soldiers during the war should be restricted. Until the time of publishing the material, the commission did not respond to a request.
It is worth noting that the gambling market in Ukraine was already banned from 2009 to 2020. Market participants went through restrictions using illegal sites. "The legal gambling market is 13 legal entities that work on" land "and 17 are on the Internet, and illegal - these are more than 600 sites," - said Kilil Ivan Rudy. The commission maintains a register of persons with restricted access to gambling establishments and participation in gambling.
As of April 1, there were almost 6,000 thousand people on the lists. Participation of the player in the register can be members of the family of the first degree of affinity, the commanders of the Armed Forces have no such right. Redy recognizes that no one can prohibit gambling, as it is the constitutional right of every Ukrainian. Game dependence turns into a problem if it prevents the serving and reflecting of the attacks of the Russians, but there were no such examples.
Those who play online casino can be found in almost every unit, but the cases of addiction will rather be isolated by several operating soldiers of one of the air defense units in a conversation with focus confirm the problem of capturing online casinos and sports rates in the military since 2014, After the armed conflict in the Donbass. Rest time is often spent not reading books and discussing current problems, but on gambling.
"It is so easier to get distracted than to communicate on banal topics and worry about the future confrontation with Russia. They play a lot of military in me. They get wages relatively high, lose and then borrow from comrades. Did not give money at the promised time - received a conflict with brothers . The wives also intervene, because they see that men send them money only partially, " - says the interlocutor of the focus.
Never play on the battlefield, but as soon as the military goes to the rear, the adrenaline replacement process begins. The devastating effects of online cabbage are often compared to alcohol, because they depends on the moral situation in the team. If the soldiers lose a lot of money, the level of discomfort and nervousness increases. Combat units commanded focus that they were forced to select phones from their subordinates and publish them on a schedule.
Up to two hours a day is given to the calls of the native. Ludomania is widespread not only in the army, it is also in Ukrainian society as a whole. And the Armed Forces is an integral part of society, comments by the focus an officer of the 67th separate mechanized brigade, military psychologist Andriy Kozinchuk. "Game dependence turns into a problem if it prevents the serving and reflecting of the attacks of the Russians, but there were no such examples. .
The physiological nature of the game dependence is explained by the replacement of norepinephrine, cortisol and serotonin, hormones of stress and joy. During the fights there is a huge number of these hormones, they strongly beat on the central nervous system. When the soldier is removed from the war zone, a conditional break begins. Those who are used to playing danger partially replace it with gambling. "In the war, the risks are much more serious than to lose money on the rates.
One of the sources is a casino. The trouble is not in the losing, but in the winning - through it the hormones of happiness are produced. I know cases when the military won over 50,000 hryvnias," - says the psychologist. The gambling business has become the largest taxpayer over the years of a full -scale war. In 2023, market participants paid UAH 10.
4 billion - 51 times more than in the pre -war 2021, was estimated by the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Tax and Customs Policy, Yaroslav Zheleznyak. Compared to 2022, taxes from gambling have increased 14 times. In February 2024, UAH 1. 8 billion of taxes was paid, only in the first two months of 2024 from gambling only 11 times more income than for the whole peaceful 2021, the politician said.
But Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, provides other figures. In 2023, the gambling business hid about UAH 27 billion from the budget, and the total market turnover reached UAH 207 billion. Focus wrote earlier that the gambling business was legalized in Ukraine in July 2020. The Verkhovna Rada has approved the bill "On State Regulation of Gambling and Gaming".