BETON Enters the World of Professional Soccer: Shakhtar’s New Sponsor Turns Out to Be Linked to Kamyshin’s Business Circle
18 May 16:05
FC Shakhtar recently announced a three-year agreement with BETON, an online casino and sports betting operator, which has become the club’s new title sponsor. The club itself officially confirmed the partnership, noting that the brand operates through CITYCODE LLC and holds Ukrainian gambling licenses, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“We welcome BETON as the title sponsor of FC Shakhtar and view this sponsorship as a strategic alliance aimed at the systematic development of Ukrainian football as a whole. It is important for us to build long-term relationships with sponsors who share our values, ambitions, and vision for the future (..) We are confident that together with BETON we will be able to implement large-scale projects (…),” said Dmytro Kyrylenko, commercial director of FC Shakhtar , on this matter .
What is known about BETON
CITYCODE LLC, operating under the BETON brand, isa licensed Ukrainianoperator in the online casino and sports betting sector.
According to public records, the founder and beneficial owner of SITIKOD LLC is Roman Balashov, who simultaneously manages and owns 6.4423% of JSC “Chicago” at .
And it is JSC “Chicago” that owns the trademarks Be, Bet, Beton-Casino, and Beton Games.
In addition, Roman Balashov is also a co-beneficiary of LLC “FC “K9””. At the end of last year, the aforementioned LLC replaced one of its co-founders. Instead of (removed) Sergey Fatkullin Munzilovich , JSC “CLOSED NON-DIVERSIFIED VENTURE CORPORATE INVESTMENT FUND ‘CHICAGO’” was registered as the 100% owner.
Connection to Kamyshin’s businesses
Sergey Munzilovich Fatkullin is a long-time business partner of former Minister of Strategic Industries Alexander Kamyshin, with whom he co-founded LLC “GRANO HOLDING” (the foundation of the Grano Group agricultural group).
Serhiy Fatkullin has a number of joint businesses, including with Mykola Mykolayovych Nesterenko, and the latter very recently became the ultimate beneficiary (replacing Oleksandr Kamyshin) of “Grano Agrar Holding GmbH (GRANO AGRAR HOLDING GMBH) (Ukraine).”
Grano Group was founded by Oleksandr Kamyshin in 2016 with the German partner Grano Agrar Holding GmbH, comprising seven operating agricultural companies, a grain elevator, and a land bank of 10,000 hectares in the Chernihiv, Volyn, Rivne, and Kyiv regions.
In addition, in 2019, together with the same Mykola Nesterenko, Kamyshin launched Fortior Capital— an investment company focused on infrastructure and the agricultural sector.
“These projects have shown that Kamyshin is not just an investor, but a strategist who sees the future in technology and sustainability. His business experience has been the ideal preparation for the challenges of public service,” reads a promotional text about Kamyshin that has recently begun appearing online, apparently with the aim of generating positive Google search results for his name.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, as is well known, worked in Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group prior to his public service (ministerial posts and a career at the state-owned “Ukrzaliznytsia”—ed.).
Accordingly, BETON’s emergence as the title sponsor of “Shakhtar” may be a manifestation of the intersection of Rinat Akhmetov’s various business interests.
Related
At the end of 2025 (in October 2025), the online gambling platform BETON announced the expansion of its operations and the acquisition of a new license—for bookmaking services. The statement mentioned a “new” focus specifically on sports partnerships.
Meanwhile, since last October, companies within Andriy Matyukha’s group have lost their licenses. These include Favbet Game Slots LLC and Patriot JSC (a lottery operator).
Also, in April of this year, PlayCity announced the revocation of the license of Cosmolot, which operated through Spacesix LLC.
The head of PlayCity is Gennady Novikov, whose activities were initially coordinated through the Ministry of Digital Transformation and former First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov.
At the same time, the activities of Oleksandr Kamyshin and Mykhailo Fedorov are currently closely intertwined in another sector—the defense sector. Specifically, Kamyshin is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Council of Arms Manufacturers, where he oversees UAV production (such as FPV drones and drones for shooting down “suicide drones”), while Fedorov previously oversaw the “drone army” and now heads the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
