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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Nothing personal, just business: Ukrainian bookmaker Favbet doesn’t pay taxes and works for the occupiers
After the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, many Ukrainian businessmen and politicians who before 24 February had not been especially noted for a strong pro‑Ukrainian stance suddenly adopted one. Apparently because today that is almost the only way to at least avoid attracting attention and at most to gain reputational benefit. Especially if there is something to “cover up” with a pro‑Ukrainian position.
As is known, back in the summer of 2020, gambling was legalized in Ukraine. From that moment, all bookmakers operating in Ukraine had to obtain a license and pay an annual fee of 108 million UAH. Since then, up to today, only four bookmakers have obtained such a license — Parimatch Ukraine, Vbet Ukraine, Fan Sport and even the Russian “Tvoya bettingovaya kompaniya,” which operates under the 1XBET brand.
But there are many more bookmakers operating in the country today, you will say. And you would be right. The first that comes to mind is Favbet, a well‑known Ukrainian company that has been operating under the Favorit brand since 1999 and until recently sponsored the Ukrainian Premier League, boxer Oleksandr Usyk and four other football clubs. And it has carried out its betting activities in recent years as... a lottery.
The only licenses Favbet obtained after the legalization of gambling in Ukraine are an online casino license, which costs only 23 million UAH, and licenses for operating the Billionaire casino and gaming machines, which cost much less than a bookmaker’s license, the main license for Favbet’s business.
According to data provided by the Favbet Group of Companies, it obtained licenses in the field of organizing gambling, including two licenses to organize and conduct gambling in casino establishments, a license to organize and conduct online casino gambling, and a license to organize and conduct gambling in gaming machine halls. In addition, the company obtained two hundred licenses for slot machines, twenty‑eight licenses for gaming tables, including a roulette wheel table. The total amount paid to the state budget for licenses is 216 150 000,00 UAH. Moreover, the group reports that it created about 700 jobs and paid various taxes and fees to the budget totaling 20 791 263 UAH.
That list does not include a bookmaker’s license. And the company uses its existing licenses in the information space to “cover” its bookmaker activities, on which it continues to earn huge sums of money that do not in any way reach the budget. It looks as if a large bookmaker company that earns millions of dollars doesn’t want to share with its country and support it during a full‑scale war, when Ukraine desperately lacks funds for the army and social payments to citizens.
Illegal activity should be handled by law enforcement. And credit where it’s due — they did not ignore this issue. Back on 5 May 2021, the police opened a criminal case regarding the illegal activities of Favbet and Favorit, which belong to the well‑known gambling businessman Andriy Matyukha and his partner Ihor Sosoniuk. Within this case investigators from the National Police of Ukraine even conducted searches in the company’s offices, after which they stated that Favbet and Favorit illegally receive excess profits from betting activity, with revenues accumulated through a number of foreign firms whose ultimate beneficiary is Andriy Matyukha.
However, so far that is where it ended. Is it necessary to recount how in Ukraine it has always been possible to avoid accountability, especially given that Andriy Matyukha has long been known for corruption scandals dating back to Yanukovych’s era, when gambling was completely banned in Ukraine but, understandably, continued to operate. And Matyukha’s Favbet above all.
In turn, the Favbet Group of Companies denies the existence of claims by law enforcement and denies illegal activity by Favbet and Favorit. “No official or founder of the legal entities mentioned in the article has been charged in any criminal case. There are currently no criminal proceedings against the group of companies,” the company said in a letter stating its official position.
In 2013, hackers from the international group Anonymous hacked the mailboxes of deputies of the Party of Regions and published many of the letters found in them. Among them was a letter from that same Andriy Matyukha from the address [email protected], in which he appealed to the “regionals” complaining that his bookmaker company had to operate illegally and was subject to constant “raids” by law enforcement, and he proposed that the authorities “cooperate.”
“At the moment the company operates under illegal conditions… Naturally, on the ground in all regions the company cooperates with various control bodies within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, primarily with UBEP officers, in some cases with UBOZ and cybercrime units. In addition to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prosecutor’s office and tax police are sometimes involved in cooperation. The volume of monthly payments across Ukraine now amounts to about 1 200 000 hryvnias (approximately 150 000$), but this gives no guarantee of more or less stable operation. The company is ready to cooperate with the ministry centrally and not cooperate locally. If all our outlets in all regions work stably, we are ready to increase monthly payments to 200 000 dollars,” Andriy Matyukha appealed to the then authorities, asking for centralized support from the Ministry of Internal Affairs instead of operational responses in the event of another “raid” on his gaming halls and “lotteries.”
It is unknown whether he then managed to “negotiate” a centralized protection or had to continue paying bribes for his illegal business, but this fact speaks loudly that Matyukha knows and can earn illegal excess profits, not pay money to the budget, and remain untouchable by the state.
Favbet. Leave principles to someone else
As is known, Russian aggression against Ukraine did not begin in February 2022, but eight years earlier, when the Russian Federation annexed Crimea and unleashed hostilities in Donbas. Doing business with Russians or continuing to work in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and in Crimea proved impossible for a patriotically inclined Ukrainian business. But did this affect Favbet’s operations? No. The company continued to work with clients from Russia as well as from Donetsk, Luhansk or the annexed peninsula, continuing to accept bets from people there and pay out their winnings, as confirmed by messages from users over all these eight years to Favorit’s online support, to which employees of the Ukrainian bookmaker company kindly responded.
“I’ve been using this company for several months now, and I’m completely satisfied. Payouts are stable, without delays,” wrote in 2018 a resident of occupied Donetsk, Oleksandr Khrustalov, in the company’s reviews.
“They work honestly, everything is withdrawn on time... I hope for further fruitful cooperation,” wrote a Russian resident, Andriy, in April 2018.
Despite Russian aggression all those years, Favbet saw nothing wrong with allowing citizens of that country to continue placing bets with a Ukrainian bookmaker and paying them their winnings. Over the years Russian betting reviewers attracted Russians to bet at Favbet and Favorit, calling them among the best bookmakers, which Russians readily responded to. Russian regulators blocked access to Favbet and Favorit sites, but not the Ukrainian company — via VPN or TOR one could easily register and play. And receive winnings from a Ukrainian bookmaker.
Is such fruitful cooperation between Russians and Favbet and Favorit possible today, three months after the start of Russia’s full‑scale war against Ukraine? Officially, the company stated in early March that it no longer works with Russia and left the Belarus market, where it also had offline betting points; when registering on the Favbet and Favorit sites, Russia and Belarus conspicuously do not appear in the country dropdown today. However, that is only official and formal. In reality, company employees will kindly explain and help a user from the aggressor country obtain betting services and subsequently pay out their winnings.
We contacted Favbet’s online support to ask whether a Russian citizen can register if he holds a passport of another country, for example Israel (dual citizenship is allowed in Russia) and, for example, a Latvian phone number. In our scenario, we only had a card from the Russian Tinkoff Bank, but as it turned out, even that is not a big problem for Favbet.
“Thanks for waiting!) You can register on our site provided that you indicate Israel as the country during registration, and also immediately send Israeli documents for verification),” operator Stepan replied after consulting with the administration.
After that, regarding the bank card question, Stepan brought the administration directly into the conversation, and another operator, Danylo, joined the dialogue.
“Glad to see you in the chat, Bohdan. Unfortunately, cards from a Russian bank won’t do…,” the Favbet operator replied sadly, but after thinking about how to help a citizen of the aggressor country, added: “What currency is it in?”
After learning that a Russian bank’s currency card might be acceptable and that a user from Russia could try to register that way, Danylo, instead of sending the Russian off after the Russian warship and showing his civic stance, kindly indulged the Russian, ending with the phrase, “It was very nice chatting with you!”.
It seems Favbet’s statements about refusing to work with Russians and Belarusians were made only for the Ukrainian audience, not as operating principles that would bar the company from having any relations with citizens of countries waging a full‑scale war against Ukraine. Moreover, the bookmaker itself kindly seeks ways to help Russians bypass their own official bans.
“Nothing personal, just business,” Andriy Matyukha would probably say. Which, incidentally, we learned from the company’s senior management, he prudently left Ukraine a few days before the start of the war, flying to Croatia. Favbet moved its employees to Croatia and Romania to continue operating the business. In Romania, as Favbet’s head of business department Serhiy Dzekunov admitted, Favbet has already developed official iOS and Android apps and, notably, continued licenses for online casino and for bookmaker activity, which the company does not consider necessary to pay for to a half‑empty budget in Ukraine while continuing to earn money here. Including through cooperation with citizens of the aggressor country.
Skelet.Info
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Нічого особистого, тільки бізнес: український букмекер Favbet не платить податки і працює на окупантів". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
