Vulkan Casino fine upheld: people on the stop list were still let in

On the shopfront the hall is Vulkan Casino. On paper it is LLC Conqueror. An unscheduled inspection in March 2024, carried out by KRAIL after complaints from the public, found two people who were already on the restriction register and still played. The regulator imposed a fine of 3.55 million hryvnia. The operator challenged it, but on 31 October 2025 the Kyiv District Administrative Court found the fine lawful. On 8 September 2026 the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal left that ruling unchanged. The case number is 320/32085/24. The banner and the adverts are beside the point. The question was whether the cashier could keep out someone who had already asked for a stop.

The hall’s explanation was simple: the register was supposedly in trial operation and could fail on those exact days. The court checked an internal memo from the regulator and wrote the opposite — on the days of admission the register worked without faults. The check itself was what failed. The operator searched the register only by passport details and never by surname, first name, patronymic and date of birth, so a match with the list slipped past. The person had already asked to be shut out, and the door stayed ajar. That is not a small box on a form. It is the reason the register exists.

The ruling matters for more than the sum. It records that the self-exclusion register is not a note in the corner of an account. If a person is already on the list, the hall has no right to take their stake, even when the form looks complete. The court did not ask whether the player dodged the check. It asked whether the hall knew how to keep them out. It also noted that if the operator doubted the register, it should not have let the customer bet until the check was complete.

For someone thinking about self-exclusion, the practical point is simple. A PlayCity request only works if halls read the register in full, not just a document number. The ruling presses exactly there: a formal procedure that misses a match on full name and date of birth now costs millions, not a line in an inspection note.

It does not replace a limit inside the account. The register closes the door for longer, and at once, in licensed halls that actually query it. A money or time cap is a thinner tool for a single day. The fine shows the other side: if a hall lets in someone the register has already stopped, the hall answers, not a fault that was not there.

The helpline 0 800 100 065 does not replace the judgment and does not lift a person off the register by phone. It is for the moment you need to stop now, while the request is still on its way. Read the ruling as a line for the operator: checking by document number alone is no longer an excuse.