Expressions of nationalism through documentation: Amidst ongoing conflict, Andriy Matyukha’s company, Favbet, continues to accept Russian funds and distribute winnings

Expressions of nationalism through documentation: Amidst ongoing conflict, Andriy Matyukha’s company, Favbet, continues to accept Russian funds and distribute winnings

Favbet, the Ukrainian bookmaker company also branded as Favorit, officially announced it would cease operations in Russia and Belarus amid the conflict. However, it continues to accept wagers and pay winnings to users from these countries.

This information was confirmed by investigative media as well as the well-known UNIAN agency.

According to reports, LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet," Favbet’s registered entity in Ukraine, is still active in the Russian and Belarusian online gambling markets despite its formal withdrawal announcement one month after the conflict’s escalation.

Indeed, although it took a whole month for such a statement, in March Favbet did state that it was ceasing its activities in Belarus and Russia. However, this is not true and is a pure lie.

Journalists provide correspondence with Favbet’s customer support, where they presented themselves as Russian citizens and asked for assistance in registering for play and withdrawing money. The support service promptly explained how to do all of this.

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To understand that the journalists reporting on this scheme are not lying or making things up, it is enough to spend a few minutes online and have the ability to connect through a VPN since we are located in Ukraine. So, we enter "Favbet Russia" in the search engine:

The first page of the search results provides us with a plethora of links to Russian resources. And to double-check, let’s do the same for Belarus:

Just click on the first link. The result is somewhat predictable: 

As is the second: 

We won’t tire the reader – all the links given by the search engine explain how exactly to play at the Favbet betting company in Russia. And how to withdraw the winnings if any.

The currency is also a choice: dollar, euro, ruble. Withdrawal methods too: Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Visa Qiwi Wallet, Yandex.Money, "Unified Wallet", Skrill, and AdvCash.

Regarding the ban on the operation of the bookmaker in Russia, more specifically, how to circumvent it, the solution is quite simple: 

You just need to find a "mirror site". There are plenty of those: 

However, Favbet’s operations in Russia are hindered not because the bookmaker firm made this decision, but due to the ban by Roskomnadzor – in the Russian Federation, this type of business (not only Favbet, but also in general) is prohibited.

However, this has not stopped anyone before or after February 24 – ways to bypass the ban imposed by Russian oversight bodies have always been found.

Incidentally, returning to Belarus, where Favbet allegedly also withdrew – the situation there is even simpler because there is no ban in Belarus on the activities of gambling firms in general and Favbet in particular. Play as much as you like: 

And a little bit of statistics – the Favbet company, known in Ukraine under the brand Favorit since 1999, operates in our country as a lottery.

The only licenses that Favbet obtained after the legalization of the gambling business in Ukraine are an online casino license which costs only 23 million UAH, as well as licenses for the operation of the "Billionaire" casino and slot machines, which cost much less than the license for bookmaker activities, which are the main focus for Favbet.

As for the license for bookmaker activities, the company does not have it. The reason is simple – the license costs 108 million UAH per year. Nonetheless, the company conducts bookmaker activities.

The "experience" of "negotiating" with any authority is enormous: in 2013, hackers from the international group Anonymous hacked the email accounts of Party of Regions deputies and published many discovered emails. Among them was a letter from Andriy Matyukha from the address [email protected] in which heappeals to the "Regionals" complaining about having to operate illegally and undergo constant "raids" by law enforcement. He, therefore, proposes "collaborating" with the authorities:

Andriy Valerievich Matyukha is the only beneficiary of LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet": 

This "experience" explains why the bookmaker does not have a license specifically for bookmaker activities. Nevertheless, it successfully carries out this activity – it is enough to go to its official website to verify this.

However, Favorit did face a "raid": on May 5, 2021, the police opened a criminal case regarding the illegal activities of Favbet and Favorit agencies. In this case, the investigators of the National Police of Ukraine even conducted searches in the company’s offices in Kyiv, after which they stated that Favbet and Favorit were illegally making huge profits from betting activities, the income from which was accumulated through a number of foreign companies. The ultimate beneficiary of these is Andriy Matyukha.

However, the result here was somewhat predictable – try to follow the link placed a few lines above. The material that told about this criminal case has long been cleared.

In turn, the Favbet Group denies any claims by law enforcement agencies and the illegal activities of Favbet and Favorit. "No suspicions have been presented to any company officials or the founders of the legal entities mentioned in the article in any criminal case. Currently, there are no criminal proceedings against the group of companies," says the letter with the official position of the company.

This provides considerable food for thought with a definitive conclusion.

A little more history: 

It’s nice, of course, that the company is praised. But pay attention to the dates and locations from which the reviews came. These are Russia and Donetsk, which was annexed first in 2014. However, the fact of the conflict, which began not on February 24, 2022, but back at the beginning of 2014, did not interfere with the successful operation of Andriy Matyukha’s Favbet in the areas of the ORDLO and Russia.

Of course, it is possible (and it is expected that Favbet’s press service will soon claim) to declare that in this way Favbet fought the Putin regime by withdrawing money from there, but there’s a nuance in this. Money was indeed being withdrawn from Russia and annexed territories, and it settled in offshore accounts – aside from its Ukrainian registration, Favbet also has registration in the offshore jurisdiction of Curacao – but how do you handle the payout of winnings regularly and in full received by players in Russia, Belarus, and Donbas?

There is another nuance. Does anyone seriously believe that in Russia you can just earn millions, hiding behind all these "mirrors" and "Curacao jurisdictions"? There, the system of levies from businesses (not just illegal ones) is so tightly arranged that every shawarma kiosk is afraid to miss a payment by even a day.

And as for illegals, especially betting companies, they pay millions. Not hryvnias, as into the Ukrainian treasury, but dollars. And monthly. Where and how these payments are distributed afterward – one can only guess. Some settle in the pockets of Russian law enforcement. And some are converted into tanks and shells, leveling the country of Favbet’s registration – Ukraine. How much money Favbet brought to Russia specifically and where it was directed over the years of its operation in this country can only be speculated upon. And helping "properly" distribute it were deserters from the "Party of Regions," to whom Favbet’s owner Matyukha is so friendly, and who play far from the last role in the conflict that has continued since 2014.