Any business in Ukrainian realities needs, if not friendship, then at least neutrality on the part of those in power and M.S.L. LLC. (Molodsportloto) is perhaps one of the most striking confirmations of this.
How MSL lives during the war and after the legalization of the gambling market
According to the official website of the company, “MSL” is the successor to the Soviet-style state lottery “Sportloto” and the company began its activities as a state-owned lottery in 1992. But in 1998, private investors came. But this did not affect the company’s activities in any way.
Regular video broadcasts of lottery drawings on the main state television channel (then UT-1) showed good relations between the company and the authorities. Or at least, the absence of conflicts.
Even the official ban on gambling in 2009 did not affect MSL in any way, because the legislation did not consider the organization of lotteries to be a gambling event that should be prohibited.
In addition, during the period of the ban on gambling in Ukraine, it was lotteries that felt the best, acting as a kind of “franchise” for casinos and slot machine halls. The latter officially also became lottery operators, often under the roof of more well-known market participants. But in 2014, the situation worsened so much that the then Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov even declared a “crusade” against them, also unsuccessful.
MSL – conflict with the authorities
LLC “M.S.L.” I felt quite well until 2015, when I fully experienced the consequences of the confrontation with the authorities.
You can find information on the Internet that in 2010, MSL wanted to organize a lottery in support of the future Euro 2012, and Alfa Bank was indicated as a partner for this project.
The project was not implemented then, but it was remembered in 2015, when M.S.L. LLC. sanctions were imposed as part of the fight against Russia's occupation of Crimea. Another major operator of the Ukrainian lottery market, the Patriot company, received the same sanctions.
The only company that managed to avoid these sanctions was the Ukrainian National Lottery (UNL), which, as Commentaries wrote, was supervised by the then MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Alexander Tretyakov.
So proximity to power played against “MSL” and this lasted for a long time - 4 years.
But the matter was not limited to sanctions; in December of the same 2015, the SBU opened criminal proceedings against “MSL” for allegedly financing terrorism. However, the claims were subsequently withdrawn as unfounded.
The MSL company constantly fought for the lifting of sanctions that prevented it from working, and this was very clearly reflected in the state budget of Ukraine. For example, in 2013, all lotteries in Ukraine brought UAH 340 million in taxes to the state budget. And already in 2015 it was only about 26 million UAH.
It is not surprising that the then head of the State Fiscal Service, Roman Nasirov, asked the Ministry of Finance to lift sanctions from lottery operators, but to no avail.
“MSL” itself tried to prove that upon the return of licenses and the lifting of sanctions from the company, a “golden shower” in the form of UAH 5-6 billion in taxes annually would fall on the state budget.
According to the YouControl analytical system, in 2015 MSL accumulated about UAH 3.5 billion, and in 2015 the company’s revenue fell more than three times - to UAH 1.1 billion. In 2016 it was already less than UAH 400 million, but then the income increased slightly.
But since 2019, the situation for “MSL” has changed.
MSL - friendship with the authorities
The MSL company can safely count the victory of Vladimir Zelensky in the presidential elections in 2019 as an asset, because now they have already begun to squeeze out their competitor, UNL. Thus, already in July of the same year, MSL gained control of the electronic lottery Cosmolot.
Even then, many connected this with the name of the current People's Deputy of Ukraine Daniil Getmantsev, since he owned a stake in MSL. True, officially it was tiny, for example, in 2016 it was 0.0198%.
As Daniil Getmantsev himself later said, he received a share in the company during the privatization of the company where he had worked since 1997. The politician also repeats that he stays away from the lottery market because he recognizes a “conflict of interest.”
MSL pays taxes, but in Cyprus
However, who and to what extent actually owns M.S.L. LLC? It’s hard to say for sure, because officially the company belongs to EVOLOT LIMITED, registered in Cyprus back in 1990, that is, 8 years before the creation of “MSL” itself, and has 9 directors, of which, judging by the names, 6 are not Greek.
Of these, the most famous are Georgy Lozhenko and his son Taras. Officially, Georgy is the owner of 0.04% of M.S.L. LLC, which allows him to be considered the owner of the company in Ukraine.
However, it is not they who are much more interesting, but Elena Polosenko, the owner of 40% of Yurimex LLC, which is engaged in activities in the field of law. The fact is that she is the daughter of Georgy Lozhenko, and Yurimex is engaged in legal support for MSL, which was directly admitted by Daniil Getmantsev.
Moreover, the people's deputy himself stated that he sold the company to his relative when he joined the civil service. Note that 60% of Yurimex belongs to Yuri Krainyak, probably that same relative of the politician. That is, the “conflict of interests” recognized by the people’s deputy may be even deeper than he says.
And finally, where are the 5-6 billion hryvnia in taxes that Georgy Lozhenko promised to the budget in 2018? More precisely, how he intended to provide them, given that M.S.L. LLC. registered in the tax “paradise” of Cyprus, and allows you to withdraw profits from Ukraine without paying taxes absolutely legally.
LLC “M.S.L.” - is there any money?
If you believe YouControl data, MSL’s business is getting worse - having increased revenue to UAH 496 million in 2021 (2 times less than in 2015, when sanctions fell on the company), in 2022 the company was able to earn only 234 million UAH.
Not surprisingly, news began to emerge about the company's lottery winners being sued and unable to receive their winnings. So, a resident of the Volyn region waited almost a year for his payment of 117 thousand hryvnia.
Although the man won back in October 2021, for some reason he was not paid the money, and when the war began they referred to martial law. Nevertheless, the court ordered MSL to pay all the winnings and another 8 thousand hryvnia in the form of moral compensation.
Another player, who spent 60 thousand hryvnia on lottery bets in 3 months, filed a lawsuit trying to find out if “MSL” has the money to pay him his winnings if he eventually “breaks the bank.”
The company decided to combat this with a story about 128 “jackpots” paid out during the war in the amount of 46.5 million UAH, obviously in order to reassure the players.
But no matter how this attempt to reassure the players led to the opposite result, non-publicity, fierce competition in the gambling market and war may not outweigh the existing support of those in power.
