Family Ties: Who Links Ukrainian Holding TECHIIA to Russian Bookmaker 1XBET?
After the Ukrainian Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries revoked the licenses issued to the Russian bookmaker 1xBet in the spring of 2022 following a public outcry, a Ukrainian IT holding unexpectedly found itself caught up in the scandal surrounding the company, writes Bagnet.
So, at the beginning of September, the Forbes publication questioned A statement claiming that the Ukrainian company Techiia donated approximately $60 million to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and displaced persons during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has raised doubts, as this donation from a single company represents a third of the total raised by the largest military foundation, "Come Back Alive." Meanwhile, Techiia's revenue for the entire year of 2021 was $62,2 million, almost the entire amount the company donated to the Ukrainian army.
Clearly, the company can't donate almost its entire annual revenue (not even profit) to charity, otherwise it would be left with nothing and go bankrupt. In a comment to Forbes, the holding's co-founder, Oleg Krot, was unable to clearly explain the holding's income, which would allow him to make exorbitant donations to the army, stating only that half of its 2021 revenue came from one of his businesses—the esports corporate group WePlay Holding.
They helped the army, and well done, there's no catch. But there's a catch. Trying to figure out what this money was that was used to support the army, but whose origin Techiia couldn't explain, journalists uncovered an interesting fact. Or rather, a connection. As it turns out, Techiia co-founder Yuriy Lazebnikov, just two years ago, was the director of ME-ESTATE LLC, whose founder and beneficiary is Sergey Tsybin—the same one who now owns Tvoya Bettingovaya Kompaniya LLC. This is the company that brought the Russian bookmaker 1xBet to Ukraine and received two licenses for its operations in our country in March of this year.
Family Ties: Who Links Ukrainian Holding TECHIIA to Russian Bookmaker 1XBET?
This is precisely why suspicions arose that the Ukrainian holding Techiia may have helped bring 1xBet to Ukraine, and the $60 million contribution to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces may have been payment from the Russian bookmaker for a positive decision by the KRAIL to issue it a license to operate in Ukraine. Especially since this spring, the KRAIL supervisor Boris Baum (closely associated with Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Alexander Babakov and who lobbied for 1xBet's entry into the Ukrainian market) I told, that due to the fact that 1xBet failed to obtain a license before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, realizing that the war would create difficulties for the Russian brand in entering the Ukrainian market, it was decided that in exchange for a positive decision from the KRAIL on issuing licenses, the Russians would undertake to purchase military bonds worth 500 million hryvnias.
This suspicion was also supported by the fact that both in 2021 and after the start of the full-scale war, the esports company WePlay Esports continued to collaborate with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet. Journalists discovered that 1xBet is involved with WePlay Esports esports events, including online seasons of Counter-Strike: Go competitions. 1xBet regularly advertises events hosted by the Ukrainian WePlay Esports, on which the bookmaker offers betting. Furthermore, the Russians hosted live broadcasts of the 5th season of the WePlay Academy League, which ran from July 25 to August 14, 2022.
All this happened while the Russians were bombing Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk, Kramatorsk, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and other peaceful cities in Ukraine. Techiia Holding responded to this. responded The fact that they allegedly have no control over how and by whom the results of the competitions they organize are used, and that they don't receive any funding from bookmakers. And, in general, they have no ties to 1xBet.
Not so. Techiia is currently disavowing its ties to this bookmaker, as soon as the media began to suspect the holding of working for Russian interests. And back in early 2021, WePlay Esports was happy to announced about his friendship and cooperation with 1xBet.
Family Ties: Who Links Ukrainian Holding TECHIIA to Russian Bookmaker 1XBET?
"We are pleased to announce that WePlay Esports and 1xBet have entered into a partnership for the entirety of 2021. The collaboration begins with the inaugural season of the WePlay Ultimate Fighting League and then extends to all tournaments through the end of the calendar year… WePlay Esports and 1xBet are working together on a new tournament," the press release stated at the time.
Does this align with current statements by Techiia Holding and its WePlay Esports project? Moreover, following Ukrainian media reports about WePlay Esports' collaboration with 1xBet in 2022, all mentions of Techiia's broadcasts, which took place during the full-scale war, began to disappear from the Russian bookmaker's websites. Clearly, having been caught up in the scandal, Techiia was attempting to erase all traces of its activities from 1xBet's websites. But how could this be accomplished without direct contact with the Russian bookmaker and without any influence over it?
Among other things, such contact and influence may be facilitated by the fact that Techiia and 1xBet currently have more than direct, even familial, ties. The fact is that WePlay Esports' chief legal officer, Roman Rodin, is the brother of Alexander Rodin, the director of Tvoya Bettingovaya Kompaniya LLC, which obtained 1xBet's operating licenses in Ukraine. As the saying goes, a coincidence?
According to Ukrainian registry data, Alexander Rodin and Roman Rodin were both registered at the same address in Kyiv, at 3 Leonida Pervomayskoho Street, Apt. 7. As of today, all mentions of Alexander Rodin, director of Tvoya Bettingovaya Kompaniya LLC, among his relatives on all social media have been carefully scrubbed—no shared photos or anything else.
However, one characteristic photo still remains on Facebook. page Diana Shapovalova, common-law wife of Alexander Rodin.
In a 2019 photo, Diana Shapovalova is standing with her children, as well as her husband's brother, Roman Rodin, and his wife, Valeria Rodina, who, in turn, had the surname Shapovalova before her marriage and is the sister of the wife of the director of TBK LLC. The caption under the photo reads "Rodnye."
Moreover, Diana Shapovalova, who considers the brother of the director of the company that brought 1xBet to the Ukrainian market a close friend, indicates on her page that she also works at WePlay Holding. This means that the contact and connection between Techiia Holding and 1xBet are extremely close: who knows, but perhaps the issue of "cleaning up" references to Ukrainian esports competitions on the Russian bookmaker's websites was discussed right at family dinners?
Incidentally, the Rodin brothers are far from poor. WePlay Holding's chief lawyer, Roman Rodin, owns seven land plots totaling approximately 10 hectares, a Jaguar X-Type, a Ford F150, and a Toyota Camry registered to his wife, Valeria. He also owns a 137-square-meter non-residential building on Naberezhno-Pecherskaya Street in Kyiv.
His brother, Alexander Rodin, who works for a Russian bookmaker, in turn registered two apartments in Kyiv at 14 Feodosiysky Lane and 4 Zarechnaya Street, as his property, as well as two foreign cars: a Range Rover and a GMC Sierra.
Finally, it's worth noting the characteristic response of Techiia holding co-founder Oleg Krot to a dev.ua journalist's question about Techiia's connection to 1xBet. As with Forbes, Krot was unable to provide a definitive answer the second time. having said the following"I have no influence over this company. This company is much bigger than me. Their monthly income is probably more than my annual income."
The question was about a connection, but Oleg Krot, in a Freudian twist, replies that he personally has no influence on 1xBet. Given that "this company is much bigger than me," perhaps the co-founder of Techiia is subconsciously implying that 1xBet exerts influence over him? In any case, the facts speak for themselves: war is war, but in business, there's nothing personal.
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