A petition to ban the Russian company 1xBet from operating in Ukraine has garnered more than 25 000 signatures. Now it will be considered by the President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This is evidenced by the petition page.
The initiator of the petition, Vasyl Lebedev, published the petition on July 8. In 10 days, she collected 25 978 votes.
The author notes that on March 30, 2022 (at the height of Russiaʼs full-scale war in Ukraine) the Gambling and Lotteries Regulatory Commission issued two licenses — for bookmaker activities and online casino operations — to LLC "TBK"
And although formally the company that received these licenses is registered in Ukraine and for Ukrainian citizens, the documents submitted by this company contain an application for work in Ukraine under the brand of the well-known Russian gambling operator 1xBet.
"In addition, the 1xBet trademarks, for which a license was issued, were registered in 2015 to the Cypriot company Navasard Limited, registered in the city of Nicosia, which, according to Forbes, is owned by citizens of the Russian Federation Roman Semiokhin, Serhiy Karshkov and Dmytro Kazorin," the petition states.
According to the author, the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries acted contrary to the state interests of Ukraine and in favor of the aggressor country, which is unacceptable during the open military aggression of the Russian Federation. In addition, this company does not operate on the site 1xbet.ua, for which it received a license, but works on the territory of Ukraine through the unlicensed site 1xbet.com. This is a violation of the law.
The initiator of the petition demands that the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries conduct an inspection of the work of this gambling operator in Ukraine, record violations in its actions and ban the operation of 1xBet.
"We demand that the Gambling and Lotteries Regulatory Commission conduct an inspection of the Russian gambling operator 1xBet in Ukraine, record violations in the actions of this operator, which conducts its bookmaking activities through the unlicensed site 1xbet.com, which serves citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus, and take all took measures to block the operation of this site on the territory of Ukraine and made a decision to cancel the licenses issued to Tvoya Betting Company LLC for bookmaking and online casino activities under the Russian brand 1xBet," the document says.
According to the legislation, after the petition has received 25 000 votes, it must be considered by the President Volodymyr Zelensky within 3 months from the day of publication.