VBet company: billion-dollar turnover, tax scandals and connections with Russia. What is the gaming empire hiding?
Ukrainians spend huge amounts of money on sports betting, but does everyone know who really makes money from this business? One of the leaders in this area is one of the largest betting companies VBet, which recently found itself at the epicenter of a scandal. The media reproached the companies for their connections with the Russians and involvement in possible financial fraud. VBET Ukraine LLC itself categorically denied these theses and stated that there are no criminal cases against the company at all.
However, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported that this is not so: there are still proceedings and a pre-trial investigation into the company’s evasion of taxes on a large scale is ongoing. Who is lying and what is the gambling empire suspected of?
This company became the main sponsor of the Ukrainian championship and the national football team, displacing competitors.
According to StopCor, the agreements concluded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine with Favbet and VBet led to the monopolization of the betting market. The Ministry of Youth and Sports claimed that these agreements were signed for the sake of the fight for the purity of sports and the identification of suspicious bets. However, the bookmakers themselves appear to have benefited significantly from these agreements in the form of official partner status for national teams and powerful advertising.
Disguised “Russian traces” in the company’s activities and interests can be seen through another company, Soft Construct Limited, behind VBet. It was she who turned out to be connected with the Russian bookmaker Fonbet through the company Fastex. This company, in particular, organized the Russian Poker Tour, sponsored by Fonbet representatives. However, after a loud response in the media, information about this partnership was removed from the Soft Construct website, indicating a possible attempt to hide these connections.
At the same time, VBet itself categorically stated that “We have never worked with the Russian Federation” and demanded that all materials with such assumptions be removed. The company claims that the published information allegedly violates the business reputation of the company, constitutes “unfair competition” and requires its refutation and removal.
In addition, the company provided a written response to StopCor’s request, where it indicated that there are no criminal proceedings against VBET Ukraine LLC.
But the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine told us something completely different - there is a case, it is being investigated by the EBI and it concerns probable large-scale tax evasion:
“During the pre-trial investigation, among others, facts of possible tax evasion on an especially large scale and illegal activities in organizing gambling by officials of VBET UKRAINE LLC are being investigated,” the letter says.
What is VBet hiding and why does the company’s response contradict official information from law enforcement? After all, gaming companies conduct hundreds of thousands of transactions per day and turnover tens of billions of hryvnias per month. And unpaid taxes during a war are the creation of gaps in the budget, which does not correspond to state interests, and ultimately plays into the hands of the enemy. So let's continue to understand this topic.
Let us remind you that the Office of the Prosecutor General recently exposed another illegal online casino with Russian roots. Ten members of a criminal group who transferred almost three billion hryvnia of income to the Russian Federation will appear in court. They were charged with creating, leading a criminal community or criminal organization, participating in it (part 1, 2 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), as well as illegal activities in organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries (part 4 of Article 28 h .1 art.
