Andrey Matyukha: from the Russian passport and the FavBet casino to the supply of water to government employees

Russian Andrei Matyukha prefers to remain in the shadows, which is not surprising, given that his popularity is relatively low, even among his colleagues in the bookmaking business and online casino owners. His company FavBet still operates in Russia. However, Matyukha claims that this company is in no way connected with him personally, it is just a coincidence of the name. According to British journalists, Andrei Matyukha is diversifying his business.

This was reported by the editors of the NENKA website.

His last step is the acquisition of the Voda.ua trademark and winning the tender to supply it to Ukrainian ministries and the Verkhovna Rada. But how did he manage to achieve such success and who are his opponents with whom he fights on equal terms? Let’s look at a short review of Andrey Matyukha with a Russian passport.

What is the Russian-Ukrainian company Favorit-Sport (FavBet)? Its main beneficiary is private entrepreneur Andrey Matyukha. In the past, he was accused of illegal gambling, financing terrorist groups and tax evasion through affiliated structures, in particular Lucky Land LLC. The relevant documentation is contained in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions. Andrey Matyukha won a contract to supply mineral water to the Ukrainian parliament.

In January 2024, it became known that Andrey Matyukha acquired the Voda.ua trademark from its founder Dmitry Nikiforov. Water under this brand is extracted from the Mizun spring in the Dolinsky district of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. With the Servant of the People party coming to power, journalists noted that Voda.ua began to appear on the desks of deputies and ministers in the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada.

Andrey Matyukha and his family are officially the owners of several companies associated with the FavBet online casino since the early 2000s. Among them are companies such as “Favorite Bet”, “Favorite Jackpot”, “Planet Sports”, “FavBet Bookmaker” and others. He also owns a number of restaurants, including Marakuya and Wheeler, as well as the luxury supermarket Daily Market in Obolon. Previously, this place in Ukraine was the first store for special individuals, even before the appearance of Good Wine.

Victoria Skrinchenko, registered at the same address as Matyukha, is his wife and owns part of the listed companies. She also runs the Aesthetic Life clinic in the Obolon region. At first glance, there is nothing to indicate a connection with Russia.

Andrey Matyukha has ties to Russian business and reportedly holds a Russian passport. For many years he was the founder of Dorida Realty LLC, a grocery retailer. This company was created by Matyukha in partnership with citizens of the Russian Federation - Andrey Lipanov and Yuri Sprizhitsky. Although Matyukha left the founders of Dorida Realty in 2016, his Russian business partners remained among the beneficiaries as of September 2022. This is the first connection connecting Favbet owner Andrey Matyukha with tenants.

Moreover, in the spring of 2022, during the peak of Russian aggression against Ukraine, journalists from the publication Delo.ua discovered that, despite Favbet’s statements about its complete withdrawal from the Russian and Belarusian markets, the company continued to allow the registration of Russians on its sites and even pay winnings. Although the money withdrawal scheme was complex - the player had to note that he was not a Russian citizen and use a card from a non-Russian bank.

Before 2023, Ukrainian media reported that Andrei Matyukha may have a Russian passport, and even published a copy of it, although official confirmation of this was not found in official sources.

We also note that in December 2023, Water UA LLC, among whose beneficiaries was Matyukha, won a tender for the supply of water for the state enterprise Ukrservice of the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine. Matyukha did not acquire the company, namely the Voda.ua trademark, which was founded only at the end of October 2023.

The story of Andrei Matyukha is a complex and contradictory story. Companies with which he is associated have been forced to publicly respond to accusations of illegal activities, maintaining their innocence and denying ties to Russia. Andrei Matyukha himself was especially active in trying to refute these accusations.

In 2020, law enforcement authorities renewed their interest in Favorit Sport, conducting searches at their offices and employees’ homes. At first these searches were denied, but then they were confirmed by the press service, which explained their actions as pressure from Russian companies. They expressed disagreement with the provisions of the bill on restricting activities in the field of gambling on the Ukrainian market, especially the ban on activities whose founders are individuals or legal entities of Russian origin. This statement clearly indicates a conflict with 1xBet, a Russian company trying to penetrate the Ukrainian betting market.

When 1xBet received a license from KRAIL, the market was actually divided between Cosmolot, FavBet and PariMatch. Neither of them was happy about the emergence of a new competitor. However, the most active participant in the information war against Russian Cypriots was Andrey Matyukha’s FavBet.

The war of gaming oligarchs: Andrei Matyukha, his opponents and allies began in 2019, when Zelensky expressed support for the legalization of the gambling business. However, the presence of Boris Baum, associated with the Russian Luzhniki gang, raised suspicions that the legalization would take place with the participation of Russian gangsters.

This scenario raised fears that gambling would be legalized with the participation of Russian gangsters, which led to widespread public protest.

Even among supporters of the legalization of the gambling business, doubts arose that it would lead to attracting large foreign investments, since Russian companies participated in this process.

Thus, the story of Andrei Matyukha and his connection with the gambling business is a complex and multifaceted picture, including political, economic and criminal aspects.

The history of the gambling empire associated with Andrei Matyukha is a complex labyrinth of events. One of the leading companies in this area is the bookmaker FavBet (also known as Favorit or Favorit Sport), which is backed by private entrepreneur Andrey Matyukha. Even during the period of the ban on gambling in Ukraine, FavBet was active, including through the Toto lottery.

A number of companies controlled by Matyukha and associated with the Favorit brand operated in Ukraine from the 2000s until the ban on casinos in 2009. After that, some establishments partially turned into Internet cafes, lotteries and sports poker clubs, also known as the Grand Victoria casino in Obolon. Some of the business went virtual and was legalized in jurisdictions where gambling was allowed.

Court decisions indicate that most of Matyukha’s enterprises operated illegally in Ukraine from 2009 to 2020. Most of them were registered in Kyiv at one address. Despite this, according to the Gaming and Lotteries Regulatory Commission, the group obtained licenses for various types of gambling, although not all were completely legal.

Matyukha also controls online casinos through Favorit United NV, a company registered on the island of Curacao. This company received a sublicense from one of the licensees in Curacao and operates under the management of Matyukha and his business partner Igor Sosonyuk.

Igor Sosonyuk also plays an important role in other structures associated with Matyukha, such as the Cyprus company Bintpash Ltd, which is engaged in accepting and processing payments. Thus, Andrey Matyukha’s complex business network extends across different jurisdictions and includes both real and virtual forms of gambling.

The various companies owned by Andrey Matyukh represent an interesting mosaic in his business portfolio. For example, in 2016-2018, a company from Belize called Roliatto Group Ltd. (124466) became one hundred percent owner of Planet Earth LLC. This company was the applicant for one of the trademarks, namely Favbet (application number m201220783).

According to the publication, Matyukha also owns the domain name favbet.com and is the ultimate beneficiary and director of several companies registered in the UK, such as Andalidi Assets Ltd (08322630), Favbet Invest LLP (OC381256), Bet Invest Ltd. (08348255), Premier Property Invest Ltd. (08404215), as well as the Maltese companies Favbet Holding Limited (C84426), Favbet Limited (C84427) and the online casino favbet.eu, operating under a license from Malta.

According to the British trademark register, the FAVBET brand is owned by the British company Favbet Invest LLP, in which two other British companies participate - Andalidi Assets Ltd and Andalidi Invest Ltd, wholly controlled by Matyukha.

Also, the British company Bet Invest Ltd is engaged in software development and technical support for the group’s websites, and its office is located in Kyiv at Stepan Bandera Avenue, 8.

Bet Invest Ltd is also one hundred percent owner of two Ukrainian companies - Atlant Triumph, whose main focus is computer programming, and City Gate, registered at Stepan Bandera Avenue, 8, building 39, 39a, in Kyiv.

According to the decision of the Dneprovsky District Court of Kyiv dated September 11, 2020, funds received from clients of the Favorit bookmaker are credited to the accounts of Prime Fort LLC, Neuron Gold LLC, and then transferred to the companies Planet of Sports LLC, Sport Arena LLC.” and Sfera Max LLC.

Planet of Sports LLC is a joint venture between Andrey Matyukha and Yuriy Pilipenko, who in turn is the sole owner of Sport Arena LLC and director of Atlant Triumph LLC. Sfera Max LLC is owned by Yuri Sharipov, but in the period from 2017 to 2020 the only participant was Renaissance Group LLC, owned by Andrey Matyukh.

The history of Andrei Matyukha’s relationship with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies has constantly attracted public attention.

In 2014, the prosecutor’s office of the Svyatoshinsky district of Kyiv began checking the legality of the activities of the network of gambling establishments of the bookmaker FavBet, suspected of violating the legislation on the gambling business. This led to a criminal investigation and searches, which resulted in the seizure of a significant amount of computer equipment.

At the end of 2016, the SBU announced the “liquidation” of the largest bookmaker “Favorit”, accusing it of financing terrorist activities in eastern Ukraine. Searches were conducted and materials and equipment were seized from several offices and residences of the suspects.

In January 2020, the Kyiv prosecutor’s office announced a search at the Favorit Sport office and accused the company of illegal bookmaking activities.

However, despite the charges and searches, Andrei Matyukha was not brought to criminal responsibility. The company denied the accusations, pointing to a possible information attack from Russian competitors.

In May of the same year, an information attack was directed against FavBet, accusing it of operating without a license and tax evasion. However, this material was later removed from the Internet.

Despite all the obstacles, Matyukha’s bookmaker empire continues to exist and develop. The information space was quickly filled with positive materials about FavBet, highlighting its successes and contribution to the betting industry.

Recent months have been full of information materials highlighting the activities of Andrei Matyukha and his company FavBet, especially in the context of charitable assistance to the army. In some cases, it appeared that FavBet was providing the Ukrainian military to the teeth, when in fact the company only purchased one rifle worth $18,000 and actively advertised the event.

In addition, the FavBet press service recently loudly announced its contribution to the army in the amount of 30 million hryvnia, although in reality the amount turned out to be less - only 25 million hryvnia, as follows from the press release.

Assuming that Andrei Matyukha receives only a small share of income from the company, we can conclude that the funds allocated to help the military and war victims amounted to no more than 4% of the total monthly income.

Founded by Ukrainian citizen Andrey Matyukha, FavBet is actively developing in the countries of the former USSR. However, despite high profits, the company does not show significant interest in charity, which has attracted some criticism. Its image posts, which highlight contributions to the military, face accusations that it is trying to improve its image at the expense of insufficient actual assistance.

In her business, Matyukha controls several companies both in Ukraine and abroad. However, his activities, including participation in gambling and various charitable initiatives, have been criticized and attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies.

Overall, although FavBet continues to operate, it faces accusations and mistrust, which requires active attention and resolution from the company and its management.