Gambling schemer Andrey Matyukha under scrutiny of the State Bureau of Investigation: how the owner of Favbet hides billion-dollar tax schemes behind fake farms and aggressive PR in Croatia

Gambling schemer Andrey Matyukha under scrutiny of the State Bureau of Investigation: how the owner of Favbet hides billion-dollar tax schemes behind fake farms and aggressive PR in Croatia

30 апреля 2026 г.

Kseniya Zhukova

«How Andrey Matyukha Creates a New Economic Reality for Croatia», «Andrey Matyukha Implements Innovations in Croatia’s Agricultural Sector» , «Millions of Euros to the Budget: Tax Contribution of Andrey Matyukha’s Business» , «Shocking Truth About Andrey Matyukha’s 14 Companies in Croatia: Why?» — such propagandistic messages have been broadcast to the Croatian audience by a group of one-page clone websites registered in the .hr domain zone since the end of last year.

The websites are anonymous and do not disclose their owners — however, their content speaks for itself.

Simultaneously with their launch, an article appeared in the Croatian media outlet Jutarnji list with the label «promo» under the headline, which once again raises questions about the professional competence of the PR team of the controversial owner of the Ukrainian bookmaker Favbet, Matyukha: «Tko je Andrey Matyukha? Svojim je radom zadužio ukrajinski narod, a sada sve više pomaže i Hrvatskej», which translates to: «Who is Andrey Matyukha? He has done a great service to the Ukrainian people with his work, and now he is increasingly helping Croatia».

On the aforementioned websites, besides a pile of meaningless AI-generated images of Matyukha against artificial backgrounds («green energy» with solar panels, windmills, and biogas plants; monitors with growth charts of unclear data and inscriptions in the «Yautja» language; 

or poorly photoshopped «foreign passports» with the inscription «Ukraine paesport»), they also present pompous statements accompanying these images. 

«His (Matyukha’s) approach to business has always been characterized by strategic thinking and the ability to see opportunities where others did not notice them».

«Andrey Matyukha’s story inspires and opens new horizons for the entire Ukrainian business community». 

"Matyukha’s experience shows that thorough preparation and a professional approach to each market are the key to success", - on one of the "clone" websites seriously claims . A vivid example of such thorough preparation and professional approach can obviously be seen in Matyukha’s opening of the Favbeer chain of beer bars in Kyiv in 2023, which he closed just a year later.

«Andrey Valeriyovych Matyukha has created not just a profitable company, but a true business ecosystem that benefits the entire country», — echoes another "clone" website, responding to its own rhetorical question: «Andrey Matyukha: Genius of the Shadow Economy or Conscientious Taxpayer?».

The same website provides a suspiciously evasive answer to its own question about Matyukha possessing a Russian passport: «Photos of a Russian passport bearing his name have appeared online, but the authenticity of these documents raises serious doubts — after all, in the era of digital technology, creating a forgery in Photoshop is not difficult».

Although it would have been much simpler to just state that Matyukha does not have a Russian passport — of course, if that corresponds to reality. After all, the presence of the "Matryoshka" trademark in Matyukha’s ownership and the founding by him in Croatia in March 2022 of a company named Renaissance Capital, a name "borrowed" from a well-known Russian investment bank, transparently hints at Matyukha’s sympathies for Russian narratives. 

The lion’s share of the claims on the aforementioned "clone" websites concerns one specific topic — the scandalous project of building a poultry farm near the Croatian city of Sisak with a capacity of about 150,000 tons of chicken meat per year for 600 million euros, the implementation of which Matyukha promises. For this project, a company with the "creative" name Premium Chicken Company was established.

Matyukha obviously strives to become the Croatian Kosyuk, and therefore the anonymous websites «not belonging to him» rather clumsily promote the narrative that he is ready to invest in modern waste processing technologies, water purification, and air protection.

"His goal is not to gain instant profit, but to build a long-term, stable business that integrates into the local economy and meets all European standards", - assures one of the "independent" "clone" websites.

"This project demonstrates how combining Ukrainian agribusiness experience with European technologies and standards can lead to the creation of a highly efficient and socially responsible enterprise", - notes another.

Of course, Matyukha has no «Ukrainian agribusiness experience» and never had any. His business is gambling, one of the most scandalous industries in Ukraine, which drains money from hundreds of thousands of people, including Ukrainian soldiers, by no means making the vast majority of them happy (since the house always wins).

«All online casinos are looters in this war. No donations from them can compensate for the damage they have already caused to the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian society», — wrote shortly before his death on April 15, 2024, during a combat mission in the Donetsk region, Junior Sergeant of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade Pavlo Petrychenko.

It is not surprising that Croatians are not swayed by such propaganda. Residents of Sisak, as well as other towns and villages - Lekenik, Sunja, Velika Ludina - recently announced a major protest action on February 21 in Zagreb against the plans to build a poultry farm in the Sisak-Moslavina County. According to members of the civil initiative «Sisak Residents Do Not Want to Be Garbage People», Matyukha’s Premium Chicken Company poultry farm project is still in the development stage.

«The authorities have remained deaf to our demands. They did not hear us in May 2025, when we protested in Sisak against the construction of a huge poultry factory with a biogas plant in the Sisak-South industrial zone. They did not properly consider our comments on the environmental impact assessment and did not respond substantively and with arguments. They did not respond to our general demands to stop the environmental impact assessment procedure, as the project does not comply with Sisak’s urban planning documentation and is essentially unrealizable in terms of obtaining a construction permit», — said Croatian activist Snežana Sužnjević Vago.

In fact, the tactic of launching a network of disposable websites to create an image of a «socially responsible investor» or «honest politician» for a client is not new to Ukraine. However, for Croatia, this seems to be a new experience. Especially since such websites can push negative information about the figure into the background — and in Matyukha’s case, as one can guess, there is plenty of it.

«It has been established that a group of related online casinos, using the processing capabilities of LLC «Diamond Pay» and LLC «E-Pay», with the assistance of employees of certain law enforcement and other regulatory bodies, controlled by a single actual beneficial owner — a citizen and resident of the Russian Federation, is engaged in illegal activities related to evasion of mandatory fees and payments to the State Budget of Ukraine during wartime in especially large amounts, with subsequent cashing out and probable transfer of funds bypassing imposed sanction restrictions. It has been established that the following entities belong to the specified group of subjects: LLC «Bookmaker Company «Favbet» (EDRPOU 43457382, represented by the online casino brand «FAVBET»); LLC «Casino.UA» (EDRPOU 45397781, represented by the online casino brand «CASINO.UA»)», — states the plot of criminal case No. 72022000400000003 dated 19.09.2022, the pre-trial investigation of which is currently underway.

The aforementioned case was recently transferred to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) from the Bureau of Economic Security (BES), which, over several years of investigation, failed to achieve tangible results. Whether this is related to the fact that one of the curators of «protection» of online casinos in Ukraine, according to media reports, was the former Deputy Head of BES Vitaliy Gagach, known in narrow circles as «Mr. Monaco», remains unknown.

At the same time, it is an indisputable fact that already in January, the SBI managed to secure the seizure of property, including funds in bank accounts, of one of the key «sche mers» of the gambling industry — the actual owner of Diamond Pay, Rovshan Tagiyev. According to the investigation, he facilitated FAVBET in the probable evasion of taxation in especially large amounts.

LLC «Bookmaker Company «Favbet» and LLC «Casino.UA» (both owned by Andrey Matyukha) as licensed gambling operators are obliged to pay a corporate income tax of 18%, a tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 18%, and also to perform the functions of a tax agent for individuals and a 5% (until 01.12.2024 - 1.5%) military levy on players’ winnings. At the same time, the actual model of tax evasion applied by these companies involves the use of a network of bank cards issued to socially vulnerable citizens (so-called drops), including those recruited by Tagiyev», — investigators note.

It is on such «drops» that gaming accounts are registered, to which their bank cards are linked. Fictitious winnings are credited to these accounts, after which the player submits a withdrawal request, which is fulfilled by the licensee. Formally, 18% personal income tax and 5% military levy are withheld from certain amounts, creating the appearance of compliance with current tax legislation. Subsequently, the funds are cashed out or converted into cryptocurrency through P2P operations.

The use of the described scheme allows LLC «Bookmaker Company «FAVBET» and LLC «Casino.UA» to artificially understate gross gaming revenue (GGR) and financial results, which leads to a significant reduction in tax obligations to the State Budget of Ukraine. The information obtained indicates that the companies additionally unlawfully included the amount of GGR tax in expenses, which further reduced the tax base for corporate income tax», — investigators noted.

The SBI also provided specific examples indicating large-scale tax evasion by Matyukha’s companies.

Thus, from 01.01.2022 to 15.09.2023, LLC «Bookmaker Company «FAVBET» conducted financial transactions with a similar payment purpose in favor of 1,110 individuals and sole proprietors for a total amount of over 418 million UAH — allegedly for the provision of various services without their actual performance. From 17.05.2023 to 22.08.2023, LLC «Bookmaker Company «FAVBET» transferred 55.6 million UAH in favor of PJSC «IC «Globalis Insurance Solutions» as payment under voluntary financial risk insurance contracts that showed signs of fictitiousness. Already on 05.01.2024, the National Bank of Ukraine revoked the license of PJSC «IC «Globalis Insurance Solutions» for violating the requirements of current legislation in the field of insurance.

Finally, from 26.09.2024 to 27.12.2024, LLC «Bookmaker Company «FAVBET» transferred 200 million UAH to the completely unknown LLC «Dev For Day» as commission remuneration for allegedly provided analytical services. It was during this period that LLC «Dev For Day» was registered to an obviously fictitious person — an agricultural goods trader from Dnipro, Oleh Hrekov, who was its sole employee. 

These facts directly contradict the claims about the «great service that Matyukha has rendered to the Ukrainian people with his work». According to our information, there is a high probability in the near future that Matyukha, who has settled in Croatia, will receive a notice of suspicion from the SBI. And the activities of Favbet, which have been blocked by Ukrainian law enforcement, may be finally terminated. In that case, it will be much harder for him to convince Croatian society of the «purity» of his intentions.