Russian operative with vast wealth in Ukraine: details about FavBet proprietor Andriy Matyukha
14.08.2025 23:10
Businessman Andriy Matyukha’s FavBet operates without a bookmaker’s license, and Matyukha was discovered to hold dual citizenship, including a Russian passport.
Once reported in the media, Matyukha demanded the information be taken down and largely achieved that goal.
Ukrainian law bars gambling companies fully or partially owned by Russian citizens from functioning in the country. Matyukha initially denied his Russian citizenship, but British media revealed that this was not true.
When information about FavBet’s lack of a bookmaker’s license, its tax evasion, continued operations in both the Russian and Ukrainian markets, and the Russian passport of its owner appeared in Ukrainian media, Matyukha tried to have all these articles deleted. In part, he succeeded.
Media have also reported that earlier this year, Matyukha purchased the Voda Ua trademark and quickly became the supplier of this water to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and the government.
“Large online casinos and bookmakers present in Ukraine, even if they had no Russian roots, were historically strongly tied to Russia. And it seemed that after February 24, 2022, when Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities, everything should have changed. Doing any business with Russians or in Russia is not only repulsive but also criminal,” British journalists noted.
