Almost 55 billion hryvnia earned in 2023 Top 10 most successful gambling companies
A post in the Telegram channel of journalist Evgeniy Plinsky “Brudni Igri” marked the beginning of a kind of “Second Great War” in the Ukrainian gambling market. The “First Great War” started with the beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and ended in March 2023 with the loss of the long-term leader of gambling - TM Parimatch. On March 10, 2023, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed sanctions against it for 50 years, which actually stopped the company’s work in Ukraine.
The initiator of the “second war on gambling” was the gambling brand Favbet, which can become a monopolist in gambling in Ukraine. And he can be understood, because the “prize” is tens of billions of hryvnias annually, and this is only the legal part of them.
The beginning of the war for the gambling market
The time of the official start of the “second great war for gambling” in Ukraine can be considered 10 hours 14 minutes on April 18, 2024. The post on the Telegram channel of journalist Evgeniy Plinsky dates back to this time.
In his message, the journalist noted that Financial Monitoring blocked for 30 days the accounts of gaming brands VBet and Pin-UP for a total amount of UAH 2.86 billion. It is curious that there is no such news on the website of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, however, the journalist’s message was picked up by many media outlets.
However, as it turned out, the morning message turned out to be only the “first sign” - then a post about the problems of TM Cosmolot followed, and again Pin-UP. In his messages, the journalist directly accused VBet and Pin-UP (especially the latter) of connections with the Russian Federation, money laundering and terrorist financing.
However, he was not alone in this; for example, the anonymous Telegram channel Joker also published two posts on April 18 in which the brands Slotoking, 777 and SlotsCity were accused of working with the Russian Federation.
But in fact, much more such messages appeared in the information space, and they began earlier. Perhaps, the harbinger of the “second great war for gambling” in Ukraine was the petition of a soldier of the 59th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Pavel Petrichenko, to limit the operation of online casinos in Ukraine due to the epidemic of gambling addiction in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. President Vladimir Zelensky promised to look into it, and Pavel Petrichenko died on April 16.
Gambling war participants and its initiator
Judging by the mentions in the information space, the conflict in the gambling market will affect all its main participants, which is why it can actually be called the “great war for gambling” or simply the “Great Redistribution”.
Of the “Big Five” online casinos, which control about 85% of the legal turnover in the field of gambling in Ukraine, only No. 2 – TM Favbet – was not mentioned in the “great war for excitement” that began on April 18.
And this is not at all surprising, since according to Commentary sources, they are the initiators of a new conflict, with a completely understandable goal - to win as many positions as possible and become not the first, but out of reach. And this position is quite understandable, because according to official data alone, the turnover of the gambling business in Ukraine is more than UAH 55 billion per year.
Big prize in the gambling market
Almost 55 billion hryvnia - this is how much the Top 10 most successful gambling companies earned in 2023, according to the Opendatabot Index. And this is only the official income of companies, although many of them, if not all, have numerous “mirror” sites that accept rates, which are not taken into account in tax reporting.
It is clear that in such conditions any “great war for excitement” will pay for itself, because even 1% of the gambling market won from a competitor is approximately UAH 550 million. Thus, TM Cosmolot is approximately 51% of the market or UAH 27.95 billion at the end of 2023, Favbet - 17.8% and UAH 9.8 billion, respectively, Pin-UP - 6.6% and UAH 3.6 billion.
The media, courts, law enforcement - instruments of the great war for gambling
During the great confrontation for players' money, a lot of methods are used, but basically the tactics can be reduced to two technologies:
— informational;
- law enforcement and shipping.
We wrote above about the information tactics of waging war and even preparing for it - we began to prepare society for the need to change something in the gambling market back in March, and this became most clearly clear on April 18.
As for tactics using law enforcement, “Comments” does not undertake to claim that the actions of security forces or courts in the gambling market were ordered by anyone, but some facts may lead to certain conclusions.
Back in November 2023, Pin-UP (No. 3 according to Opendatabot) was deprived of its license to operate due to suspicions of connections with the Russian Federation. The Kyiv District Administrative Court confirmed the legality of such a decision. And on April 12, it became known about the detention in Cyprus of Russian citizen Dmitry Punin, who is called the owner of the Russian part of Pin-UP.
The leader of the gambling market, TM Cosmolot, began having problems with law enforcement in February 2024. Then the Bureau of Economic Security reported the seizure of UAH 700 million in online casino accounts due to tax evasion of UAH 1.2 billion. The reason for this is the existence of 30 “mirror” sites of this casino.
Although the name of the brand was not mentioned, all the circumstances correspond to the decision of the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv dated February 1, which included Spacex LLC, which holds an online casino license under the Cosmolot TM.
In turn, the Anglo-German businessman, co-owner of the Cosmolot gambling website, Arnulf Damerau, said that corrupt officials in the Ukrainian security forces and the presidential administration are trying to extort tens of millions of euros from him.
Casino roofs at all levels and why two deputy prime ministers and the head of CRAIL may lose their positions
It just so happens in Ukraine that any business operating with tens of billions of hryvnias cannot do without a political “roof.” The gambling business is no exception.
Thus, journalist Vladislav Sidorenko in his Telegram channel “Svobodny” calls the “patron” of Pin-UP personally the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mikhail Fedorov. True, he is not alone in this - Evgeny Plinsky hints at the same fact, although not directly. In addition, Economic Pravda established back in 2023 that all payments in the Diya system go through Financial Company United Space LLC. And the latter belongs to Igor Zotko, the owner of Ukr Game Technology LLC, for which KRAIL issued a license for the TM Pin-UP casino.
And there is an interesting coincidence - in November 2023, on the initiative of the SBU, the Pin-UP brand was deprived of its license. In the same month, a corruption scandal broke out with the theft of 62 million UAH by a group of 6 people. Among them were the head of the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine Yuriy Shchigol and his deputy Viktor Zhora, direct subordinates of Mikhail Fedorov. Although no one directly accused the minister, as they say, a “sediment” remains, and the chair under the official is shaking
Another possible “patron” of Pin-UP, Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction - Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Alexander Kubrakov, is becoming a completely toxic person.
The destruction of the Trypillya thermal power plant near the capital by a Russian missile attack raised the question of spending UAH 9.7 billion allocated for infrastructure protection. But as the media write, the chairman of the Restoration Agency, Mustafa Nayem, and the chairman of Ukrenergo, Vladimir Kudrytsky, awarded contracts for the protection of energy facilities to Russian companies. At the same time, Mustafa Nayyem himself denies his guilt in the destruction of the Trypillya Thermal Power Plant. But by a “coincidental” coincidence, the destruction of the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant happened on April 11, and Pin-UP co-owner Dmitry Punin was detained on April 12.
And in parliament, Kubrakov’s affairs are bad - after the people’s deputy from the Servant of the People, Andrei Odarchenko, was detained while attempting to bribe Mustafa Nayem, he is not the most welcome guest within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada.
However, Pin-UP also had a third “patron” - the same Gambling and Lotteries Regulatory Commission. It was she who officially stated in November 2023 that she was not aware of the “Russian trace or connections” of the online casino.
And again, this must happen, at the beginning of April the Verkhovna Rada began to actively call for the liquidation of KRAIL, thereby reviving Cabinet Bill No. 9256 from May 2023.
That is, in April, the positions of all three Pin-UP patrons sharply weakened, and Alexander Kubrakov, due to the scandal with the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant, may even lose his chair, and Mikhail Fedorov is not immune from this. It is not surprising that at a time when the company’s political “roof” was weakening, a competitor in the person of Favbet decided to strike.
Two such “coincidences” tell us why Favbet has a chance to win. So. As the Anglo-German investor and co-owner of Cosmolot Arnulf Damerau, the undisputed leader of the gambling market in Ukraine, states in his column for the Financial Times, the company has been under attack from the security services for several months. This problem can be solved by transferring 50% of the company to the right people connected with the Office of the President of Ukraine.
The second fact is that the liquidation of KRAIL is actively supported by the head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Finance, People’s Deputy Daniil Getmantsev, whose possible interests in the gambling market have been written in detail.
