Legalizing gambling and betting in Ukraine was definitely an error. Keeping casinos open during war is stupidity. Aggressive promotion of gambling in a torn and impoverished country is outright crime. Some gambling venues literally terrorize would-be gamblers into joining the ranks of players and losing their last belongings. Yakiv Finkelstein’s Slots City and Slotoking casinos are known bad actors. Ironically, both are well-connected to Russia.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko writes that he has been receiving a lot of calls from people who are literally being terrorized by Slots City and Slotoking casinos. The advertising is so intrusive that it is impossible to call it anything other than telephone terror.

“People suffer from alarms, missile strikes and shelling every day, and they cannot live in peace the rest of the time. They call several times a day from different numbers. And here you need to understand that this is generally illegal. Without the permission of the subscriber, that is, you, no one can call you and advertise something,” the people’s deputy notes.

He also promised to “tackle the scammers” who intrusively call people in an attempt to lure them into the game.

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On March 4th of this year, Slotoking, one of the casinos, was fined 3,350,000 hryvnias by the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL). However, the fine was not for intrusive advertising but for a “violation by the licensee of the procedure for identifying players, information about which was included in the Register of Persons for whom access to gambling establishments and/or participation in gambling is restricted.” Slotoking, operated by Slots U.S.A. LLC, also owns an online casino under the 777 brand. According to the registers, the director and beneficiary of the company is Pavlo Zhurylo. With the intervention of Oleksiy Honcharenko, it’s likely that Slotoking may face further troubles ahead.

Yakiv Finkelstein: the troubled past businessman

The licence for the operation of online casinos was issued to Slotoking on 26 April 2021, and another division of the company – casino 777 – received a permit in September 2023. As for the owner, Pavlo Zhurylo, little is known about him. In addition to Slots U.A. LLC, he is registered as an individual entrepreneur, and for some reason, twice.

As for the online casino operator, Slots U.A. LLC, owned by Pavlo Zhurylo, last year it earned 193,665,200 hryvnias in net profit with a turnover of almost three and a half billion. Notably, both casinos (Slotoking and 777) employed as many as 16 people:

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This is where the data on Slotoking ends, but regarding another “telephone terrorist” – the Slots City casino – everything is much more interesting. Firstly, Gamedev LLC operates under this brand; it received a license in February 2021. And if the registration data of the Slotoking operator is clear and understandable, then with the Slots City operator, Gamedev LLC, everything is very confusing.

The director is Oleh Kononchuk, who until recently was the founder of Gamedev LLC. In general, since Gamedev LLC received a license to conduct gambling, permanent changes have continued in the composition of its founders. And even earlier, owners from Great Britain and Switzerland were present here:

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However, things are still more interesting:

The owners remain concealed behind a venture capital fund, while the beneficiary is Israeli citizen Yakiv Finkelstein. Interestingly, this name bears a striking resemblance to the essayist Yakov Finkelstein, who was executed in the Shlisselburg fortress in 1906. However, our Jacob Finkelstein only adopted the surname Finkelstein in 2021, prior to which he was known by the rather prosaic name Hrybov and gained a specific level of notoriety in Ukraine.

Yakiv Hrybov, as he was formerly known, co-founded the Nemiroff brand alongside Stepan Glus and Anatoliy Kipish. However, around 2011, Hrybov and Kipish attempted to oust Glus, leading to allegations of raiding. This initiated a classic raider scandal, which concluded in 2017 with Glus departing from the company after a prolonged legal battle. Throughout this period, Nemiroff continued to export its products successfully to Russia, as well as the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.

Bella Finkelstein and Yakiv Finkelstein drink bloody Nemiroff

Despite his involvement in the Nemiroff debacle, Hrybov, now transitioning to Finkelstein, found himself embroiled in yet another scandal related to Zernotrade, where he partnered with Viktor Kupavtsev. Once again, this conflict followed a familiar pattern of a raider scheme, with Hrybov accusing Kupavtsev of diverting funds to the Rostok Holding agricultural company. Despite having no prior connection to Rostok Holding, Hrybov eventually gained ownership of the company in 2020 following a protracted legal dispute.

Currently, Yakiv Hrybov, under the name Yakiv Finkelstein, owns the corporate rights of at least 16 legal entities:

In some of them, the co-owner is Hrybov-Finkelstein’s sister, Bella Finkelstein, with whom he, in particular, owns Nemiroff through LVN Limited LLC.

However, in our case, the focus should be on why Yakov Hrybov chose to adopt the name of the executed revolutionary Finkelstein. The reason behind it is both amusing and mundane. In 2020, Yakiv Hrybov relocated to Russia, settling in the Moscow region alongside his partner Boris Feigin in the upscale village of Klokovo. As fate would have it, tensions arose between the partners over the ownership of a pond where they were breeding sturgeon. It remains unclear which of them invited the television crew, but the conflict story was aired on NTV, showcasing Yakiv Hrybov alongside Boris Feigin.

This incident did not go unnoticed in Ukraine, particularly as Nemiroff was attempting to cultivate a patriotic image for itself. Consequently, Hrybov decided to change his surname from Hrybov to Finkelstein. However, this is not the only connection to the Hrybov-Finkelstein enterprise, Slots City casino. Upon examining the records, one would discover the existence of the Slots City Foundation Charitable Organization, which also listed Oleh Kononchuk, the current director of GameDev LLC, among its beneficiaries. Moreover, this charity remains quite active:

Its beneficiary is Artem Stohniy, who also has a number of legal entities registered in his name:

This is also a chain that would be interesting to unwind, but it is simply impossible to explore all of Yakiv Hrybov-Finkelstein’s connections in a short publication. Returning to his Slots City casino, there are two other things worth noting. The first is the financial statements: last year, the operator of this casino, GameDev LLC, earned 36,534,000 hryvnias with a turnover of two and a half billion.

The second issue is directly linked to what triggered such a strong reaction from Honcharenko. It revolves around the pervasive advertising tactics employed. Slots City casino’s presence extends far beyond the confines of Ukrainian phones and messengers. A quick search engine query reveals numerous results:

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 PIN ITBella and Yakiv Finkelstein leave a thick Russian trail in Slots City UA casino

Slots City casino boasts dozens of websites with similar names, despite the licensing terms stipulating that the casino operates exclusively on the slotscity.ua domain. Yet, for reasons unknown, KRAIL appears to turn a blind eye to the proliferation of Slots City across various platforms. One might wonder why this is the case. Additionally, why does KRAIL disregard the complaints lodged by those who feel the pressure of the owner of Slots City, the recently-renamed Israeli figure with Ukrainian and Russian passports, Yakiv Hrybov-Finkelstein?