There are many unknown online casinos in the Ukrainian gambling market, such as ChampionCasino, whose owners are difficult to identify due to the many companies in the research path.
“Comments” continue to study the sphere of legal gambling business in Ukraine, in particular, online casinos. And this time we came to the attention of an online casino that has been operating under the ChampionCasino brand for more than 2 years. Although formally the gambling establishment does not stand out as anything special, in fact its background is very interesting, and can be connected with the most famous and rich people of Lutsk.
LLC “Limon” - originally from Lutsk
ChampionCasino operates on the basis of a license issued by the Gambling and Lotteries Regulatory Commission on September 21, 2021 for Limon LLC.
Limon LLC was created in May 2020 and judging by the financial reports, its business is not going well - only UAH 3.9 million in income for 2022, according to the YouControl analytical service.
Its owners are listed as Asset Management Company Akston LLC (86%) and a certain resident of Lutsk Ruslan Drozdov (14%). True, at the same time, that same “Axton” belongs to 6 more citizens of Ukraine, who are all registered in the same Lutsk. In other words, all owners of Limon LLC are residents of the regional center of the Volyn region - Lutsk, and it is there that you should look for the owner of the company.
Andrey Pokrovsky - the king of gambling
In 2019, in the regional center of the Volyn region - Lutsk, a real information war broke out: the media, activists and politicians were finding out who was behind the illegal gambling business in the city.
The local TV and radio company “Avers” insisted that this was Lutsk City Council deputy from “Eurosolidarity” Andrey Pokrovsky. At the same time, the politician himself rejected these accusations, claiming that journalists listed as his business partner a certain Alexander Sargal, with whom the deputy himself did not do any business. He also advised us to take an interest in the activities of his colleague on the City Council, Alexander Tovstenyuk, who represented the interests of the political party “Ukrop”.
At the same time, the Volynskie Novosti news agency claimed that Andrei Pokrovsky started the gaming business, through a network of entertainment establishments he owned, back in the 2000s and after its ban in 2009, although he announced the cessation of work, in reality, allegedly , didn't do this.
As Volynskiye Novosti claimed, Andrei Pokrovsky allegedly conducted the illegal gambling business in Lutsk through a network of companies and trusted persons, among which the name of Ruslan Drozdov, the same owner of 14% of Limon LLC, appears. The fact is that Drozdov was a co-owner and director of a number of companies that belonged or belong to the deputy and persons who, according to Volyn News, were engaged in illegal gambling in Lutsk in 2019.
So, we are talking about Asset Group LLC, Modern House Plus, but what is most interesting is MDL LLC. The latter is mentioned in court documents in a number of criminal proceedings, for example, No. 12018030000000279 dated July 2, 2018 under Article 203-2 “Illegal organization of gambling” and No. 62019000000000666 dated May 17, 2019 under Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Abuse of official power.”
The director of MDL LLC was accused of creating a network of places providing services in the field of gambling under the guise of instant lottery distribution points. True, after the legalization of the latter in Ukraine in November 2020, the case was closed. And it is unlikely that this person was the current co-owner of Limon LLC, Ruslan Drozdov, who resigned from MDL LLC in 2016, and the company itself is now bankrupt.
But the second criminal case concerned the alleged bribery of officials of the Volyn Police Department by an unnamed deputy of the Lutsk City Council, who accepted UAH 1.5 million into an extra-budgetary fund. True, the latest data on this case date back only to 2020.
However, in the context of the legalization of gambling, these scandals and criminal proceedings are no longer relevant, but the political vicissitudes of what was happening are of interest.
Candidate for mayor of Lutsk, and enemy of Kolomoisky and Palitsa
It was not for nothing that Andrei Pokrovsky advised the Avers shopping and entertainment company to engage in the activities of “Ukropovets” Alexander Tovstenyuk, his direct competitor, and directly spoke about the latter’s involvement in the gambling business in Lutsk.
As Zerkalo Nedeli wrote in 2020, power in Lutsk was long ago seized by Igor Kolomoisky’s closest associate, Igor Palitsa, who once even headed the Volyn Regional Council. The UKROP party was used for political control.
But the site’s journalists named Andrei Pokrovsky as one of Igor Palitsa’s competitors in Volyn, although he was a member of Eurosolidarity, but was clearly thinking about free political movement, in which the social movement Svidomi, which he created, was supposed to help him.
Indeed, in the local elections in 2020, he went to power together with “Svidomi”, but contrary to the forecast of “Zerkalo Nedeli”, not as a candidate for mayor of Lutsk, but to the city council, where he and 5 more of his colleagues in the social movement were elected. By the way, this turned out to be the second result in the elections of that time, which indicated his influence.
However, in 2021, Andrei Pokrovsky handed over his mandate as a deputy of the City Council and focused on business and was very successful. For example, local journalists noticed that the city council sold communal property - 7 acres of land in the center of Lutsk and a room of 540 square meters for 561 thousand hryvnia to Vladimir Kalyukh, and he gave the property to his son - Andrey Pokrovsky.
The origin of Pokrovsky's wealth is unknown
In general, it was not for nothing that Andrei Pokrovsky was called one of the richest deputies of the Lutsk City Council, and perhaps of the whole of Lutsk. Even his income statement for 2021, submitted when leaving the City Council, is impressive - 38 real estate properties, 10 vehicles, investment certificates for 4 million of Akston LLC, yes, exactly the one that owns Lemon LLC. and ChampionCasino. It is curious that, among various trademarks, he owns the rights to the “Champion” computer program, which is similar to the name of the online casino, which also runs on computer programs.
He also owns, in whole or in part, 8 companies, including Asset Group LLC, Modern House Plus, in which Ruslan Drozdov, a minority owner of the same Limon LLC, worked or was a partner. By the way, of these 8 companies, two are located outside of Ukraine.
Andrei Pokrovsky’s income for 2021 amounted to about UAH 29.5 million. The deputy keeps mostly currency in the form of cash - $645,000, about 1.6 million euros and approximately 576 thousand hryvnia. At the same time, Andrei Pokrovsky borrowed 17 million 640 thousand hryvnia and 870 thousand euros to third parties.
Quite good capital for the political struggle in his native Lutsk, although its sources are not entirely clear. For example, the businessman’s most profitable company, the Promin Entertainment Center, earned UAH 16.1 million in 2022, that is, almost half as much as Andrei Pokrovsky himself.
Returning to the ChampionCasino, we can state that the modern Ukrainian gambling market is full of such unknown online casinos, the owners of which have to be found in the labyrinths of various companies. For example, ex-People’s Deputy Andrei Zhurzhiy, who makes money, including from medical marijuana in Europe, may be related to the Slotoking online casino.
