19 августа 2025 г. 15:36
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FavBet, owned by Andrey Matyuha, operates without a bookmaker license, and Matyuha himself holds dual citizenship, including Russian.
As soon as this information appeared in the press, Matyuha urgently demanded its removal and, apparently, achieved his goal.
According to Ukrainian legislation, the operation of gambling companies fully or partially owned by Russian citizens is prohibited on the territory of the country. Matyuha denied having a Russian passport for some time; however, British media reported that this is not true.
When information about the absence of a bookmaker’s license for FavBet, tax evasion, continued operations in the Russian market along with the Ukrainian one, and the owner’s Russian passport surfaced in Ukrainian media, Matyuha tried to have all these articles removed. He succeeded to some extent.
Additionally, media reported that at the start of this year, Matyuha purchased the trademark Voda Ua and quickly became the supplier of this water to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the government.
«The major online casinos and bookmakers present in Ukraine, even if they didn’t have Russian roots, were historically strongly tied to Russia. It seemed that after February 24, 2022, when Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities, everything had to change. There is no need to even speak of any business with Russians or in Russia—it looks not only disgusting but also criminal», British journalists noted.