Andriy Matyukha and Favbet: Russian citizenship, gambling schemes, and the silence of Ukrainian intelligence services

Andriy Matyukha and Favbet: Russian citizenship, gambling schemes, and the silence of Ukrainian intelligence services

In just one year, Andriy Matyukha’s gambling company "Favbet" multiplied its profits 425 times compared to the previous period.

According to the Opendatabot service, Andriy Matyukha’s company is the undisputed leader in terms of revenue growth in the gaming market, with a profit equivalent to 9.79 billion hryvnias.

Such success could undoubtedly be celebrated if there weren’t a fly in the ointment – the owner of "Favbet", Andriy Matyukha, holds dual citizenship. Specifically, Russian citizenship. The most unfortunate part of this situation is not even its existence but the fact that Matyukha’s Russian passport and photo were discovered not by Ukrainian security services, who are supposed to do this, but by the British. They leaked the photo of a Russian Federation passport belonging to Andriy Valeriyovych Matyukha, issued by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Moscow region on April 24, 2022.

Judging by the issue date, Matyukha already regretted his hasty step at the time of obtaining it – the application was submitted when the success of Russia’s "lightning campaign to liberate" Ukraine from Ukrainians was unquestionable. However, while the bureaucratic procedure for processing the "neophyte who returned to the bosom of Mother Russia" was underway, the liberation campaign turned into a rout, and it became clear that Matyukha had rushed with the application. But it was too late – the passport was already ready.

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How and where the British obtained his photo is unknown. However, the fact that they leaked this information not in 2022, but in the spring of 2024, raises many questions and allows for many theories. Coincidence or not, but information about Andriy Matyukha’s Russian passport appeared precisely when his gambling business profits became known. Blogger Oleksiy Holobutskyi noted this:

As it turned out, despite the increase in income, Andriy Matyukha’s gambling business is not straightforward – the "Favbet" company (brand FAVBET) does not have a license for bookmaking activities, which it conducts alongside organizing gambling in online casinos.

Another strange coincidence was that the information about the Russian passport was leaked after Andriy Matyukha purchased a mineral water supplier for the highest authorities of Ukraine – the company Voda Ua. This company supplies water to the Verkhovna Rada, Cabinet of Ministers, Office of the President, Prosecutor General’s Office, NABU, NBU, NAPK, law enforcement ministries, and others.

Coincidence or not, but after the information about purchasing this company, another blogger, military Kirill Sazonov, advised deputies not to drink this water and pointed to another coincidence – the ban from Zelensky on gambling for the military.

Perhaps all this is a mere coincidence, but against the background of Andriy Matyukha’s biography and the way gambling was legalized in Ukraine in 2020, and who was the author and lobbyist of the legalization law, all these coincidences cease to be just that.

The President’s Office was advised on this matter by a representative of the Russian organized crime group "Luzhnikovskye" Boris Baum, who at that time (and still now, although it is unclear where he disappeared after the spring 2022 events) was a friend of the head of the monomajority David Arakhamia. The law was then clearly written for two companies - "Parimatch" and "FavBet", and it was written by another friend of Arakhamia, the owner of the law firm Eterna Law Andriy Astapov.

The goal of the Russians was to enter the Ukrainian gambling market legally since their business in their home country is banned, and those operating illegally there are under the strictest control of a narrow group of individuals close to the country’s leader. And it’s clear that the Russian pie is too small for these individuals.

Be that as it may, "Favbet" by Andriy Matyukha was one of the first to obtain a license to conduct gambling activities in Ukraine. It immediately became clear that "Favbet" accepts bets from Russian players, although, in 2020, this information was brushed aside – the new government was building roads, "slicing" budgets, talking about "meeting in the middle," and the fact that Matyukha operates in Russia was of no interest to anyone. This was foreseen even at the writing stage of the gambling legalization law – remember for whom it was written and who was its lobbyist.

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In 2022, the situation changed drastically – suddenly it became clear that the parties understood "meeting in the middle" somewhat differently. And the fact of "Favbet’s" operation in Russia was called what it is – collaborationism. But even here, it turned out that the information noise was short-lived – the investigation of the publication delo.ua, which published material about "Favbet’s" work in Russia, was quickly cleaned up, and Matyukha once again received the aura of an honest Ukrainian businessman who also helps the army. However, it was not possible to clean everything, and screenshots of correspondence on behalf of Russians with "Favbet’s" technical support, which advised on bypassing the gaming restriction, remained.

The important point here is not even that Ukrainian law enforcement openly ignored this information, but why Russian law enforcement allows a Ukrainian company, "Favbet," to operate in Russia. However, this question was somehow ignored by the SBU, as was the presence of Andriy Matyukha’s business partners in Russia and the large number of publications on this topic in the Ukrainian media.

But somewhere a few weeks ago, all of this was published by the British. They backed up their investigations with a photo of Andriy Matyukha’s Russian passport. The open question is – why did they do it? It might be related to the fact that a significant portion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine plays in online casinos, including the one owned by Andriy Matyukha, "Favbet". Besides, a gambling addict is an ideal object for recruitment, as registration for the game requires providing a full set of personal data. And how the casino operator uses this data is anyone’s guess. In the case of Andriy Matyukha and "Favbet," these guesses lead us to Russia and its special services. Perhaps this is the direction the British, who published the passport data of Andriy Valeriyovych Matyukha, a Russian Federation citizen, are leading us.