1xBet tried to regain the Ukrainian licenses by securing a lawsuit – the judge refused

This is stated in the decision of judge Volodymyr Celeberda dated November 17, 2022, published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

As you know, on September 6, “TBK” filed a lawsuit with the District Administrative Court of the city of Kyiv with a demand to cancel the decision of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries on the cancellation of two licenses for the operation of a Russian bookmaker’s office in Ukraine.

Judge Volodymyr Celeberda decided to consider the case in a simplified manner without summoning the parties to the court session and without conducting court hearings.

However, before that, without waiting for a decision on the case, on November 15, LLC “TBK” submitted an application to secure the claim by suspending the KRAIL decision to cancel the licenses for the period of the trial.

As an argument, the representative of 1xBet in Ukraine stated that his lack of licenses can significantly complicate or make impossible the effective protection and renewal of the rights and interests of 1xBet.

However, the judge did not agree with the plaintiff, recognized the application as unfounded and did not see any reason to suspend the effect of KRAIL’s decision on the cancellation of 1xBet licenses for the period of consideration of the case, and therefore refused TBK LLC to satisfy this application.

We will remind you that on March 30, 2022, in the midst of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries issued two licenses to work in Ukraine to the Russian bookmaker 1xBet.

The Ukrainian mass media assumed that 1xBet could work in the Russian Federation under the cover of the FSB, and therefore the bookmaker needs the right to work in Ukraine in order to collect personal data of Ukrainians for their further recruitment by the Russian special services.

In September 2022, KRAIL, under the pressure of Ukrainian society, after the demand of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and based on the conclusion of the Bureau of Economic Security about the connection of 1xBet with the aggressor country, decided to cancel the previously issued 1xBet licenses.

Meanwhile, journalists of the “Pryamiy” TV channel suspected the well-known Ukrainian IT holding TECHIIA of helping 1xBet to enter the Ukrainian market in the light of information that one of the founders of the holding, Oleg Krot, transferred $60 million to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but could not explain , where this money came from and where exactly it was sent.

As the journalists found out, the second founder of the holding Yuriy Lazebnikov worked in the same company as the current owner of TBK LLC 2 years ago, and TECHIIA’s chief lawyer Roman Rodin is the brother of Oleksandr Rodin, director of TBK LLC.

In addition, TECHIIA has been closely cooperating with 1xBet in the field of eSports since 2021, and continued to do so in 2022 despite Russia’s war against Ukraine.