Andrey Matyukha, the founder of Favbet, is involved in business activities with individuals who have been sanctioned and are associated with operators of Russian casinos

Andrey Matyukha, the founder of Favbet, is involved in business activities with individuals who have been sanctioned and are associated with operators of Russian casinos

The owner of Favbet, Andrey Matyukha, has been dedicating considerable resources to promoting his philanthropy, while mentions of his primary business in gambling have sharply decreased.

This shift is partly due to Matyukha’s transfer of ownership of key Ukrainian enterprises to his son, a process that started at the end of 2024.

On the other hand, he has been living in Europe for a long time and has focused on developing casinos and the entertainment sector there. Despite all efforts to appear as an honest player, journalists have discovered his British company, which has ties leading to the giants of the Russian gambling business.

Andrey Matyukha has been active in the gambling and betting sector since the early 2000s. During this time, Favbet has expanded far beyond Ukraine. Notably, his casinos and slot machine parlors operate in the United Kingdom and Croatia.

Favbet invest LLP was registered in London back in 2012.

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Croatian Favorit sportska kladionica d.o.o. was established earlier, in 2001.

Both of these companies are founded by another British firm - Andalidi assets LTD. It is directly owned by Andrey Matyukha, as well as a mysterious Ukrainian named Andrew Ronald Behan and a New Zealand citizen Angelique Elizabeth Lilley. Journalists had previously written that Lilley is part of an international money laundering group, through which deals were conducted by drug cartels and mafia representatives, among others.

One London company managed by Andrey Matyukha has a similar name - Andalidi invest LTD, and its director since October 2022 is Ukrainian Valerii Sokol.

The co-founder of the firm is Rachel Amy Erickson. This woman is also a member of the criminal money laundering organization mentioned above.

Valeriy Sokol is the beneficiary of the Private Joint-Stock Company "Patriot". The firm was registered back in 1997 and is engaged in the lottery business in Ukraine.

In 2017, the company was included in the sanctions list of the National Security and Defense Council for its ties with Russia. Among the restrictions imposed on it were blocking assets; a ban on transferring funds abroad; suspension of issuing permits and licenses, etc.

Moreover, 5% of the "Patriot" lottery shares are currently owned by Andrey Matyukha’s company, Andalidi invest LTD.

In 2014, journalists found out that "Patriot" through the Cypriot offshore Cehriba Investments Limited, was part of the investment holding Finstar, owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Boyko.

Ukrainian registers indeed indicate that Cehriba Investments Limited has been the founder of the Ukrainian lottery since 2010.

Russian Oleg Boyko is the founder of Finstar Financial Group, among the businesses of which was, for example, the Russian giant "Evrazholding". Since 2002, Boyko became interested in the entertainment business and founded Ritzio Entertainment Group based on "Vulkan" gambling salons. This name should be familiar to readers, as "Antikor" wrote that Russian Sergey Tokarev, who was involved with the now-banned online casino Cosmolot in Ukraine, promoted the Russian "Vulkan" at the time.

Now Ritzio Entertainment Group has expanded beyond Russia and owns gaming halls in Germany, Romania, and Croatia. The owner of Ukrainian Favbet, Andrey Matyukha, also resides in the latter. In 2019, the Croatian press wrote that Matyukha owns Diamond Palace casino and Magic nightclub in Zagreb, Crystal Palace casino in Rijeka, and several FavBet betting points.

In 2021, Croatian journalists began calling Matyukha the "king of gambling". And in 2023, in his interview, Matyukha shared plans to open a hotel in Zagreb, a 1,000-square-meter casino in Split, and establishments with slot machines in three other Croatian cities. Ukrainian Matyukha also planned to open something akin to a local Disneyland in Croatia.

Of course, Andrey Matyukha is a rather wealthy person, and in 2023, his Favbet ranked second in profits in Ukraine, increasing revenue to 9.79 billion UAH. And that’s without betting. But plans for the construction of a Disneyland, several casinos, and restaurants in Europe require very significant funds. Therefore, it’s most likely that he is building his empire not alone and possibly in partnership with the partners of Russian entrepreneur Boyko from Ritzio Entertainment Group. At least the fact that Matyukha bought the Ukrainian lottery "Patriot", which previously belonged to this Russian, might hint at this.

As mentioned earlier, since December 2024, Andrey Matyukha began transferring Ukrainian business to his son, Dmitriy. Companies like LLC "Favbet Game Slots", LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet", LLC "Favorite Casino Company", LLC "Favbet VIP Casino", LLC "Casino.ua" have been transferred to him.

According to Dmitriy Matyukha’s profile on LinkedIn, he is the CEO of his father’s Croatian company, Betinvest LTD. He has also been working with an organization arranging cyber competitions since 2022. Since 2019, he has been studying law and international relations at the University of London.

In recent years, thanks to sanctions and other legal tools, such giants as Cosmolot, 1Xbet, and recently PinUp have exited the market. Essentially, they were all somehow connected with Russians. Their niche has been taken over by Andrey Matyukha’s Favbet. However, as it turns out, it also has close ties with representatives of the Russian Federation.