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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Regarding the ownership structure, it is somewhat nested: Neurolink GmbH is officially owned by another legal entity — Neoplay GmbH (business activity — software development, authorized capital — 300 thousand UAH). That company, in turn, is owned by a single individual — Mykhailo Zborovskyi.
There is very little information about the owner of a company with revenue of 218 million UAH. Although media outlets have published interviews with Mykhailo Zborovskyi in which he talks about his work in the IT industry and the gambling sector in Asia, Latin America, Malta, and Curaçao, that does not resolve the open questions. In particular, it remains unclear where Mykhailo Zborovskyi obtained at least 57,69 million UAH to pay the authorized capital for Neurolink GmbH (the law requires at least 30 million UAH for online casinos) as well as the annual license fee (27,69 million UAH).
The answer to the question about the 30 million UAH might be quite simple — they were likely siphoned from the parent company Neoplay GmbH. According to the OpenDataBot service, Neoplay had assets of 30,3 million UAH in 2023, while the financial report for 2024 showed only assets of 2,5 million UAH and a loss of 30,6 million UAH. It therefore appears that the company’s own assets were sold or otherwise contributed to the authorized capital of Neurolink GmbH, which was founded in November 2023.
Where the nearly 27,7 million UAH required to purchase the annual online casino license came from, however, remains unclear. One could of course assume that Mykhailo Zborovskyi earned these funds during his ten years of prior work in the Asian, Latin American, and European markets; yet in 2020 a person with the same name registered a sole proprietorship in software development. Since Neoplay GmbH is also engaged in software development, it is very likely that the entrepreneur has been working in Ukraine since 2020. If he indeed had the funds for the gambling business and ten years of experience, why did he not enter the market back in 2021?
Some insights can be gained from the history of Neoplay GmbH, which was founded in July 2023. According to the registers, the company originally belonged to a certain Oleksandr Lysyi and was acquired by Zborovskyi on 8 November 2023, while Neurolink GmbH was established on 23 November.
A person with similar details — Oleksandr Lysyi — headed Fourth Fort GmbH, and this name is no coincidence, since that company’s owner is the Belarusian citizen Andrei Lappo. At one time some media specifically linked the online casino Cosmobet to the Russian Sergey Tokarev, who was allegedly also the owner of the Cosmolot online casino; however, that suspicion was not confirmed.
Meanwhile, the media discovered an interesting connection that could lead to another major player in the online casino market — namely Gamedev GmbH (business activity — organization of gambling, authorized capital — 30 million UAH).
It is a fact that the Cosmobet brand, which belongs to Neurolink GmbH, was registered in 2021 in the intellectual property registers at the request of businessman Ruslan Nonka. And since “Neurolink” itself only came into being in November 2023, it is obvious that the brand belonged to the businessman, who was one of the earliest co-owners of Gamedev GmbH.
The media have extensively reported on “Gamedev” and its former owners such as Ruslan Nonka and the founder and co-owner of the vodka brand Yakiv Finkelshtein (formerly Yakiv Hrybov). Even though the company was sold to a family of agricultural businessmen from the Odesa region, Yakiv Finkelshtein may still own the company and the online casinos SLOTS CITY and Beton.
Championclub — for the ChampionCasino of the former Lutsk deputy
Another new player, the online casino Championclub, emerged thanks to a KRAIL license in April 2024, which was issued to Malina GmbH (business activity — organization of gambling, authorized capital — 30 million UAH).
The company’s owner is Ruslan Drozdov, a resident of the Volyn region, about whom somewhat more is known, although questions still arise despite some partial answers being available.
The main question remains the same — where did a sole proprietorship for software development registered as 2014 obtain nearly 58 million UAH for the license and the company’s authorized capital? He was, however, previously and remains a co-owner of several commercial entities; judging by Malina GmbH’s revenues of 3 million UAH in 2024, his business does not seem very successful.
In general, Ruslan Drozdov is not new to the gambling market, as he holds 14% of Limon GmbH (business activity — organization of gambling, authorized capital — 30 million UAH), which owns ChampionCasino and whose 2024 achieved gross revenue of 2,5 billion UAH.
The appearance of the same co-owner in the ownership structure of Championclub and ChampionCasino, as well as the obvious similarity of the names, clearly suggests the likeness of both brands — and that is indeed the case. However, behind both might in reality not be the private entrepreneur Ruslan Drozdov but Lutsk’s “gambling king” Andriy Pokrovskyi.
The former member of the Lutsk city council was long called that by the media of his hometown Lutsk even before gambling was legalized in Ukraine. The IA “Volyn News” claimed that Andriy Pokrovskyi started the gambling business via a network of entertainment establishments he owned already in the 2000s and, after its ban in 2009, although he declared he had ceased activity, in fact did not.
According to media reports, the illegal gambling business in Lutsk was allegedly still controlled by Andriy Pokrovskyi through a network of companies and trusted persons, among whom the name Ruslan Drozdov appears. The latter was co-owner and director of a number of firms that belonged to or previously belonged to the deputy and people who, according to “Volyn News,” were involved in illegal gambling activities in Lutsk in 2019.
After beginning his political career 2015 with the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Andriy Pokrovskyi is considered one of the wealthiest people in Lutsk and was even discussed as a potential mayoral candidate. He appears to have withdrawn from politics, left the Lutsk city council in 2021, and focused on his business. Moreover, the income declaration for 2021 submitted upon leaving the city council listed 38 real estate objects, 10 vehicles, and the rights to a computer program called “Champion,” which phonetically echoes the name of the online casino that also runs on computer programs.
Thus, one can say that while new actors formally appear on the Ukrainian gambling market, old faces stand behind them. Even the sale of the four companies from the market’s TOP-10 gambling companies is largely a formality.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Neoplay als Zentrum der Geldwäsche: Wie Mykhailo Zborovskyi das Vermögen von Cosmobet dem Zugriff des Staates entzieht". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Rozsliduvach.
