According to the investigation, lawyer Andriy Dovbenко, previously dubbed by the media as the «overseer» (*»smotryashchiy»*) of the Ministry of Justice, may be linked to the Slot City and BETON gambling brands.
The gambling market in Ukraine remains one of the most lucrative and scandalous, with ministers and MPs fighting for control over it. Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising that the market features quite a few online casinos whose ownership data is either scarce or, conversely, scandalous. A prime example of this involves two online casinos simultaneously operating under the brands Slot City and BETON. Their actual owner might be an individual currently wanted by the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) for embezzling 500 million UAH from Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice.
As «Comments» discovered, Andriy Dovbenko—a lawyer who once acted as the «overseer» of the Ministry of Justice—may have a direct connection to the Slot City and BETON gaming brands. He is currently outside of Ukraine, likely hiding from the NABU, which suspects him of embezzling 500 million UAH. It appears that authorities have already begun cutting off the oxygen to his gambling business in Ukraine, having stripped Slot City of its online casino license.
On October 29, 2025, the PlayCity Agency issued a license for organizing online casino games to LLC «All City Games» via its decision No. 137-R. However, in May 2026, the company was fined 4,323,000 UAH. Later, on June 5, via decision No. 221-r, it received a new license to organize online casino gambling. Yet, by June 25, that license was revoked because the company failed to pay for its first year of operations.
At the same time, the decision made prior to October 2025 has not been annulled; LLC «All City Games» made the first-year license payment of 31.2 million UAH back in November, and its Slot City online casino operates precisely under this license. Meanwhile, the company still has six months to appeal the June decision by PlayCity.
A logical question arises: why, despite the license payment being made, did officials overseeing the gambling industry in Ukraine act so abruptly and erratically—issuing a fine, granting a license, and then canceling the licensing decision?
To understand this, one needs to take a closer look at the identities of the owners—both official and alleged.
Behind any official gambling brand stands a company that obtains the license, organizes operations, pays out winnings to players, and pays taxes to the state. These companies have owners who, in the cases of Slot City and BETON, are formally different individuals:
1. For Slot City – it is LLC «All City Games» (field of activity: organization of gambling; charter capital: 30 million UAH), 100% owned by Odesa businessman Pavlo Georgiyovych Chyklikchi;
2. For BETON – it is LLC «Citycode» (field of activity: organization of gambling; charter capital: 30 million UAH), owned by Kyiv businessman Roman Serhiyovych Balashov.
As «Comments» previously analyzed, both figures seem rather «unusual» for such a substantial business as betting in Ukraine.
For instance, Slot City owner Pavlo Chyklikchi owns five companies, including those related to gambling, and is the son of Georgiy Chyklikchi, a former deputy of the Odesa Regional Council. Open-source data indicates that the father is involved in agribusiness. In fact, Pavlo Chyklikchi himself, along with his brother Volodymyr, also participates in the family agricultural business.
However, according to YouControl data, Pavlo Chyklikchi simultaneously owns three companies operating in the gambling industry. Besides LLC «All City Games,» this includes the previously acquired LLC «Gamedev» (TM SlotsCity) and LLC «Gamecity,» established in May 2026 (100% owned by him).
It is worth noting that just funding the charter capital of LLC «Gamecity» required 30 million UAH from its owner. True, this amount might not seem massive compared to LLC «Gamedev’s» 2025 revenue of 9.3 billion UAH, but officially, the Chyklikchi family simply does not have the funds for such investments.
Specifically, while serving as a settlement council deputy, the gambling mogul’s father, Georgiy Chyklikchi, stated in his electronic asset declaration for 2024 (the final year before his son Pavlo entered the gambling business) that he held €47,000 and 466,110 UAH, with another roughly 3.5 million UAH. He also owns about 70 plots of land. Pavlo Chyklikchi’s brother, Volodymyr, earned 2,830,000 UAH in 2020, with no official savings reported. There is no information whatsoever regarding the income of Pavlo Chyklikchi himself, who purchased LLC «Gamedev» in October 2024.
As a result, it is completely unclear where a family of agriculturalists with a fairly modest land bank got the money. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine an agribusinessman abruptly pivoting to the betting industry without any prior experience in the field.
The situation is identical with the official owner of the BETON online casino, LLC «Citycode»—Kyiv resident Roman Balashov. It is known that he operates as an individual entrepreneur (PE/FOP) and is a co-owner of LLC «Ortaveron» (activity: manufacture of aircraft; charter capital: 1.1 million UAH), «Perun Company» (activity: printing of other products; charter capital: 417,000 UAH), as well as…