The Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries conducts an inspection of all organizers of gambling officially operating in Ukraine under a license regarding their ties with the Russian Federation. Told about it Head of Krail Ivan Ryzhiy in an interview with Forbes.
“My position: not even a hint of Russian should be in Ukraine. The first thing I did when I returned from the APU (where Ryzhiy served until November 2022. — Auth.), held meetings with the SBU. We are now working very fruitfully with almost all organizers (gambling. Auth.),” the head of the commission said in an interview.
According to him, after the scandal surrounding the licenses issued in March 2022 to the Russian bookmaker 1xBet, all other gambling organizers who received licenses were sent letters by CRAIL warning about the prohibition of any ties with the aggressor state and the need for steadfastness.
As for those companies whose ties with the aggressor country have already been reported by the Ukrainian media, then, as Ivan Ryzhiy says, the SBU, the Economic Security Bureau and the State Financial Monitoring Service are already working on them simultaneously.
“There is a total check of all the organizers … And the decision of the commission will not be long in coming“, - assured Red.
Ryzhiy was referring to a number of companies licensed to conduct gambling in Ukraine, but suspected of being associated with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet or with other Russian companies.
As Forbes clarified when asking about verification, colleagues from AIN.ua and the Molfar OSINT community found out that PointLoto online casino is another daughter of 1xBet.
“At the time of receipt, it was called Melbet LLC - the same name as the bookmaker officially operating in Russia, owned today by the Russian Melofon LLC, as well as 1XStavka, which is a 1xBet clone that has official permission to work in Russia”, – reported the publication “RBC-Ukraine”.
According to RBC-Ukraine, suspicions were aroused by Play Fun Investment LLC, which in January 2022 received a license to operate the Fan Sport online casino, which has an almost identical site design, the same odds and a common “risk” (company analyzing odds) with 1xBet.
“In addition, Fansport does not work on the site for which it has a Ukrainian license, but conducts gambling on a third-party site. The Russian trace is about Ukr Game Technology LLC, which received a license from CRAIL to operate the Pin-Up online casino back in 2021. This casino was owned by Marina Ilyina, a native of Luhansk, who later sold her stake in the company to Alexander Udodov, the son-in-law of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. This is probably why both citizens of Russia and residents of Belarus can still register and play on the Ukrainian site Pin-Up.”- writes “RBC-Ukraine”.
Recall that Your Betting Company LLC, which wanted to bring the Russian bookmaker 1xBet to the Ukrainian market, is now trying to regain its licenses in the Kyiv District Administrative Court.
Ivan Ryzhiy, chairman of CRAIL, said that he hopes TSK LLC will lose in court.
“Because we understand what kind of people they are… I would be interested to see a judge who says that we, the SBU, BEB, made a mistake (in the decision to cancel the licenses of a company associated with the Russian Federation). Auth.)“, - said Red in an interview with Forbes.
In the photo in the header, the head of Krail Ivan Ryzhiy
Photo by Anton Zabelsky for Forbes Ukraine
Source: Fakty
