According to the Opendatabot Index, the top 10 most successful gambling companies increased their wealth 28 times last year. The Index includes 9 online casinos and 1 lottery operator. SpaceX (Cosmolot brand) became the leader, and Favbet (FAVBET brand) had the largest increase in earnings – 425 times.
The leaders of the gambling industry in Ukraine earned UAH 54.92 billion in 2023. This is 28 times more than in 2022 – UAH 1.94 billion.
The top list includes 9 online casinos, two of which are also engaged in betting activities, and 1 lottery operator. While in 2022, only a third of businesses from the Index managed to make a profit – we are talking about SpaceX, Ukr Game Technology, and Nate’s APPS – last year was profitable for all companies in the top 10.
SpaceX (known as Cosmolot), owned by Sergey Potapov and British businessman Arnulf Damerau, became the leader in the gambling business. The company’s revenue in 2023 exceeded the previous year’s figures by 51 times, reaching UAH 27.95 billion.
Favbet (FAVBET brand), owned by Andriy Matyukha, took the second place in the top list. In 2023, the company’s revenue increased by a phenomenal 425 times to UAH 9.79 billion. This is the largest increase among all gambling companies included in the Index. In addition to online casinos, the company is also engaged in betting activities.
Ukr Game Technology (PIN-UP brand) of Igor Zotko, last year’s leader of the rating, failed to hold the top spot despite a 4-fold increase in revenue over the year. With a revenue of UAH 3.62 billion, the company dropped to 3rd place.
Having increased its revenue 103 times and earned UAH 3.4 billion, Slots U.S.A. by Pavlo Zhurilo took the next position in the top. This company owns 2 online casino brands – SLOTOKING and 777.
The fifth place with revenue of UAH 3.1 billion is occupied by Vbet (VBET brand), owned by Armenian citizen Rudolf Poghosyan. In 2023, the business managed to increase its revenue 19 times compared to 2022. VBET generates revenue from online casinos, online poker, and betting.
Next in the top is GameDev (SLOTS CITY brand), owned by Israeli citizen Yaakov Finkelstein. The company’s revenue amounted to UAH 2.5 billion last year. This is 35 times more than in 2022.
The seventh place is taken by First Element (F1RST brand), owned by Artem Yushkov and Sergey Belik. The company managed to increase its revenue 43 times and earned UAH 2 billion last year.
Lemon (ChampionCasino brand), owned by Ruslan Drozdov, took the 8th position with a revenue of UAH 1.42 billion. This is 357 times more than in 2022.
The last online casino that managed to get to the top is Nate’s APPS (Super Gra brand), owned by a British citizen, Chubini Irakli. The company increased its revenue 55 times and earned UAH 604 million.
The Ukrainian National Lottery (UNL) was the only lottery operator included in the Index. Its revenue increased 2.5 times last year and amounted to UAH 516 million.
UNL is owned by a Chinese company founded by British businessman Foggy Michael John.
Who dropped out of the top in 2024?
Lottery operator M.S.L. (MSL brand) and Volna 4444 (Slot machine halls, 4444 brand) left the Opendatabot Index rating, having received only 1.5 times more revenue in 2023.
Last year, Favorit Casino received 8% less revenue than in 2022 and dropped out of the rating. And the license of Joker USA (JOKER brand) was revoked by KRAIL in December 2022.
Context.
In April, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy approved Draft Law 9256d on the liquidation of the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) and called for tighter control over the gambling business.
The draft law provides for the restriction of gambling advertising, limitation of visits and participation in gambling by vulnerable categories of the population during martial law, and establishment of additional criteria for license revocation.
In March, more than 21 thousand used cars imported from abroad joined the Ukrainian car fleet, which is almost 1.5 times more than in the same month of 2023, Ukravtoprom reported on its Telegram channel.
As reported, in February of this year, registrations of imported used cars increased by one third compared to February 2023 – up to 17.8 thousand units.
At the same time, according to the Association, 6.7 thousand new passenger cars were registered in March (an increase of 50%).
The largest share in the segment of used foreign cars last month, as before, belonged to gasoline cars – 48%. This is followed by diesel cars – 25%; electric cars – 16%; cars with LPG – 6%; hybrids – 5%.
Volkswagen Golf remains the leader among imported second-hand cars with 1146 registrations.
The top 10 most popular models also include: Renault Megane – 969 units; Skoda Octavia – 763 units; Volkswagen Passat – 653 units; Nissan Leaf – 5446 units; Volkswagen Tiguan – 544 units; Nissan Rogue – 523 units; Audi Q5 – 477 units; Tesla Model 3 – 456 units; and Audi A4 – 401 units.
The average age of used cars that switched to Ukrainian license plates in March was 9.4 years, just like in February.
In January-March, 55.5 thousand used cars imported from abroad were registered for the first time in Ukraine, which is 42% more than in the same period in 2023.
As reported, in March 2023, the demand for used foreign cars in Ukraine increased by 6% compared to March 2022 – up to 14.2 thousand units, and the leader was Renault Megan with 1105 cars.
For the whole of last year, registrations of such cars decreased by 45% by 2022 – to 214.4 thousand units.
International partners have allocated more than $700 million for humanitarian demining projects in Ukraine for 2022-2027, the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories reports, citing the Government Portal.
“Ukraine’s international partners have allocated more than $700 million for humanitarian demining. These funds are provided for projects in humanitarian demining in Ukraine for 2022-2027,” the ministry said in a statement published on its telegram channel on Sunday.
The agency specifies that the key donors for Ukraine include the United States, Switzerland, Norway, EU countries, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, and others.
In addition, the Ukrainian government will further deepen cooperation with the international and professional community to strengthen the mine action system in Ukraine.
“Such coordination will be carried out through the Sectoral Working Group launched in 2023, which brings together all donors to Ukraine in this area. And also through the Mine Action Cluster, which was restored in March 2024 and became a platform for programmatic coordination of relevant actors,” the statement said.
On Monday, April 8, there will be no precipitation in Ukraine, wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s, temperature at night 5-10° Celsius, during the day 18-23° Celsius, reports the Ukrainian Weather Center.
In Kyiv on Monday, there will be no precipitation. Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s. The temperature at night will be 8-10° Celsius, during the day 21-23°.
According to the Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory. On April 8, the highest daytime temperature in Kyiv was 26.3° in 1975, and the lowest nighttime temperature was -6.5° in 1944.
No precipitation in Ukraine on Tuesday, April 9. Wind of variable directions, 3-5 m / s. The temperature at night will be 6-11°, during the day 20-25°.
No precipitation in Kyiv on Tuesday. Wind of variable directions, 3-5 m/s. The temperature at night will be around 10°, during the day 23-25°.
Populist Peter Pellegrini has been elected president of Slovakia, replacing liberal Zuzana Kaputova.
Pellegrini, 48, defeated pro-Western Ivan Korc, a former diplomat, with 53% of the vote.
A former prime minister, he is an ally of Prime Minister Robert Fico and shares his dovish attitude toward Russia.
Mr. Fico and his allies now control Slovakia’s parliament, government, and soon the presidency.
Slovakia was one of Ukraine’s most staunch allies before Mr. Fico came to power in October, promising to stop supplying military supplies to the Slovak army in Kyiv. With Mr. Pellegrini’s election to replace Ms. Kaputova, Ukraine finally lost its voice of support in the EU and NATO capitals.
Mr. Fico called for an end to Western military support for Ukraine, an immediate ceasefire and peace talks with Moscow. He said that President Vladimir Putin had recently been “unfairly demonized” and claimed that Ukraine’s acceptance into NATO would mean the start of World War III.
Mr. Pellegrini’s campaign has echoed this Moscow-friendly rhetoric, accusing Mr. Korcok of being a warmonger who would send Slovak soldiers to fight in Ukraine, a constitutional power the president does not have.
On Sunday, Mr. Pellegrini promised to “ensure that Slovakia remains on the side of peace, not on the side of war.”
“You don’t have to worry that the presidential palace, as it has been for the last 10 years, will become the center of an opposition, opportunistic power that will harm the government, that will harm the state abroad and that will rejoice in the failures of the Slovak government,” he said.
After Ms. Kaputova resigns in June, Slovakia, a country that only a year ago handed over its entire fleet of MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine, will no longer have a single high-ranking official who unequivocally supports Kyiv’s efforts to defend its territory by force.
Mr. Korchok expressed his outrage at Pellegrini’s campaign tactics, saying that it was fear that decided the outcome of the election, and “this fear was spread by those who hide in public office.”
He said of the result: “It turns out that it is possible to become president of the Slovak Republic not only by spreading hatred, stirring up passions and pushing people to the barricades, but also by portraying the opposite number, that is, me, as a war candidate. I will not forget this.”
The liberal, pro-Western opposition also accuses Mr. Pellegrini – as head of the coalition Voice party and speaker of parliament – of remaining silent as Mr. Fico destroyed Slovakia’s criminal justice system, in particular by abolishing the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which was created 20 years ago to investigate serious corruption and economic crimes.
It had investigated a number of high-ranking officials from Mr. Fico’s Smer party and overseen the prosecution of those believed to be responsible for the 2018 murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova.
The murders were a seismic event in Slovak politics. The aftermath ended Mr. Fico’s second term as prime minister in 2018 and led to the election of the liberal, pro-Western Zuzana Kaputova as president, riding a wave of popular anger against official corruption and organized crime.
Robert Fico’s government recently targeted Slovakia’s public broadcaster, submitting plans to eliminate it and replace it with virtual state control. These plans were shelved after Peter Pellegrini’s unexpectedly poor result in the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago.
The opposition fears that a renewed Robert Fico will resubmit them – and they say that President-elect Pellegrini is unlikely to stand in his way.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for $1, in 01.01.2024-31.01.2024)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
