Russian passport and gambling business: What does FavBet owner Andriy Matyukha hide?
The company FavBet, owned by businessman Andriy Matyukha, operates without a license for bookmaker activities. Matyukha himself, as it turns out, has dual citizenship, with his second passport being Russian.
After this information became known to the media, Matyukha actively demanded its removal and, in some cases, succeeded.
According to Ukrainian law, gambling companies that are wholly or partially owned by Russian citizens are prohibited from operating in Ukraine. Matyukha denied having a Russian passport for some time; however, British media reported that this is untrue.
When information about FavBet’s lack of a bookmaker license, tax evasion, continued operation in the Russian market alongside the Ukrainian one, and the owner’s Russian passport reached Ukrainian media, Matyukha tried to remove all these articles. He partially succeeded in this.
Blogger Oleksiy Holobutskyi was one of the first to notice the disappearance of publications about the Russian Matyukha.
“In the morning, I saw a publication with a reference to a British outlet about the supposedly Ukrainian company Favbet, whose advertisement is everywhere, being owned by a citizen of both Ukraine and Russia – Andriy Matyukha. The article contained a scan of his Russian passport, outlined ownership structure, Matyukha’s connections with Russians, information about the absence of a bookmaker license, and so on,” he reported.
Media also reported that earlier this year Matyukha bought the Voda Ua trademark and quickly became a supplier of this water to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the government.
Blogger and military personnel Kyrylo Sazonov also witnessed the disappearance of articles about Matyukha and his Russian passport. He reminded that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enforced the NSDC’s decision on restricting online gambling, specifically for the military.
“Do I understand correctly that everyone else is allowed – meaning allowed to bring money to a Russian company?”, the blogger pointed out.
Regarding the water supplied by Matyukha, he advised deputies and officials not to drink it.
“Major online casinos and bookmakers present in Ukraine, even if they had no Russian roots, were historically strongly tied to the aggressor country. And it seemed that after February 24, 2022, when Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities, everything should have changed. Not to mention any business with Russians or in the aggressor country – it seems not only disgusting but also criminal,” British journalists noted.
Мария Соколовская