About Parimatch and UAH 1 billion of unpaid taxes

I haven’t heard about Parimatch for a long time. Now, the bookmaker paid UAH 1.07 billion to the budget. A billion additional taxes were assessed for the period when he worked on the territory of Ukraine.

The main question is why? I think that in the near future we will have two versions, from the state and from the company. I already foresee Getmantsev coming out with an interview about the victory over the “shadow” sector, “despite fierce resistance.” Probably, BEB will also tell you how well they did their job. The company's version will probably be that additional taxes are assessed as a normal process. They will say that they figured out the situation, and the company agreed and paid extra without further ado. Anyone who pays more usually chooses to compromise. The budget was replenished by a billion, BEB worked, and Parimatch paid. Well done everyone, thank you all.

In fact, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Tax officials have always been able to find a reason for additional assessments. Especially in Ukraine, especially in the gambling business. Moreover, when the Ukrainian budget needs additional funds by the end of the year. Tax fines have always been a tool for filling the budget, but now it has become a necessity.

If we dig even deeper, I would estimate a billion from a different angle. A billion hryvnia is $24 million. You can do a lot for this money in Ukraine. Therefore, we have a strange step - the legal payment of a billion additional taxes. It seems very likely that this is a confirmation of the choice in favor of Ukraine. And also the possible return of Parimatch to the market.

Therefore, Parimatch is well done. The company agreed to pay, despite the fact that it has not been operating on the market for more than a year. Frankly, this is the first time I have heard of a company making concessions by legally paying such a large amount instead of the usual actions in such cases, such as evading investigation, delaying the process for years, and the like. This is a kind of respect for the law and for society. What about other market participants? They added additional taxes to everyone, and where are all these other legal players? Only Parimatch paid additional charges.

Regarding the future fate of Parimatch, it is not clear here. Perhaps this is a sign that the company will return to the market in the near future. It has not been working for more than a year, but the authorities have not released any explanations why Parimatch was sanctioned and thrown out of the market. They talked about the Russian trace, although the company took an openly Ukrainian position, but they did not dare to show the facts. This, of course, is a dark stain on the state’s reputation. Someday this story of non-transparent imposition of sanctions will have extremely bad consequences.

At the same time, numerous investigations by journalists indicate that operators of Russian origin or with Russian owners still operate in Ukraine and do not fully pay taxes.

Ukraine needs 500 billion by the end of the year - here is an example, as a result it received a real billion. It is likely that “shadow” gambling market operators can also pay billions of under-assessed taxes to the budget. Therefore, we are waiting for new high-profile cases, new successes of the BEB and the Office of the Prosecutor General.