This is discussed in the investigation by BlackBox OSINT regarding the activities of Andrii Matiukha's company. Reports ua.news.
According to data from the Moscow patent office, the trademark Favbet, which has international registration, is currently active in Russia. It was personally registered by Andrii Matiukha, the owner of the Favbet group of companies, in March 2020, and this trademark will remain valid until March 3, 2030. Additionally, an older version of the Favbet trademark was registered in Russia from June 2014 until December 30, 2024 — meaning that during the three years of full-scale war, it has not been annulled either.
Journalists remind us that due to the operation of the trademark in Russia, in the spring of 2023, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine imposed sanctions on another well-known bookmaker, Parimatch. The Supreme Court confirmed the validity of this information while reviewing a lawsuit by Parimatch against the online publication "RBK-Ukraine." Thus, investigators emphasize that this could be grounds for imposing sanctions on the bookmaker Favbet, which, in addition to its active trademark in Russia, also holds three trademarks in Belarus, where LLC "Favbetbel" continues to operate, and Andrii Matiukha remains a co-founder of this company. Moreover, until February 14, 2024, Favbet held a license for bookmaker activities in Belarus.
Furthermore, as journalists discovered, the Favbet group of companies should have been held criminally liable for conducting illegal bookmaker activities in Ukraine until December 2022 — only then did LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet" obtain a bookmaker license for the site favbet.ua and paid a fee of 108 million, while prior to that, it continued to operate illegally through the unlicensed site favbet.com. This is confirmed by a letter from the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries to Favbet dated January 25, 2022, which demanded that the bookmaker cease operations of the site favbet.com on the territory of Ukraine.
Additionally, as noted in the public investigation by BlackBox OSINT, most of the Favbet group companies in Ukraine, which currently hold five licenses from KRAIL, regularly report losses to the tax authorities. For example, LLC "Favorit Casino Company," which operates a casino in the Mercure Kyiv Congress hotel, has shown negative profits each year: in 2022, the company's loss amounted to 91 million UAH, in 2023 — 96 million UAH, and in 2024, for the first two quarters, a loss of 29 million UAH was also reported.
LLC "Favbet Game Slots," which has a license for Favbet gaming halls, also reports losses despite increasing annual revenues: regardless of the income the company receives each year, its net profit remains approximately the same at 30 million UAH. Investigators indicate that this points to the minimization of the Favbet companies' tax obligations and tax evasion.
It is also noted that the owner of Favbet, Andrii Matiukha, has been in Croatia since January 2022 and has not returned even once during the three years of full-scale invasion into Ukraine.