Money laundering for Russia and criminals: how oligarch Georgi Papaski takes over Ukraine’s gambling market through PT Play and Euro Games Technology
Bulgarian businessman Georgi Papaski is entering the Ukrainian gambling market through several affiliated companies. TOV PT Play Ukraine, a subsidiary of the Bulgarian company PT Play, received a PlayCity licence in November 2025.
In March 2026, a licence was issued to TOV Euro Games Technology Ukraine, linked to the Bulgarian Euro Games Technology. Later, another company emerged – TOV PT Play Tech Ukraine. PT Play manufactures slot machines, equipment and software, and according to investigative reports, is associated with the WinBet and InBet brands.
Georgi Papaski develops his gambling business together with his brother Walter Papaski, who – as claimed in the investigation, citing Bulgarian sources – had previously received a real prison sentence in a case involving the financing of a contract killing of a competitor. The owner of Euro Games Technology is listed as Ivelina Mihaylova, whom Bulgarian media refer to as Walter’s common‑law wife. The Ukrainian PT Play and Euro Games Technology were registered at the same address, and the director of one of the companies (Papaski) managed Mihaylova’s entity.
Papaski’s first high‑profile project in Ukraine is a casino in Kyiv’s Premier Palace hotel, with declared investments of UAH 500 million. According to investors, about UAH 140 million have already been contributed to the capital, covering rent, equipment and construction work. PlayCity refused the licence due to the hotel itself: the Premier Palace has been under seizure since December 2022, and law enforcement links it to the Russian group VS Energy and to Alexander Babakov, Mikhail Voevodin and Evgeny Giner. Babakov voted for the annexation of Ukrainian territories, Giner is associated with the Rostec corporation, and VS Energy’s interests in Ukraine were previously represented by Boris Baum, who took part in preparing the gambling market reform.
Another line leads to Bulgarian gambling magnate Vasil Bozhkov. After his criminal prosecution, the Papaski brothers’ structures, according to Bulgarian media, took over part of his market. Walter Papaski acquired the football club CSKA Sofia, formerly owned by Bozhkov, while Georgi Papaski bought a historic building in central Sofia from him. Materials from the Bulgarian investigation mentioned correspondence between Bozhkov and Wagner PMC head Evgeny Prigozhin, joint gambling business in occupied Crimea, and possible support for Bozhkov from the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin. Papaski acknowledges only past business relationships with Bozhkov and denies any acquaintance with Prigozhin or Naryshkin.
A political connection in Bulgaria is former Minister of Sports Radostin Vasilev, who opposed aid to Ukraine. Papaski’s representatives deny financing his political activities but confirmed that Vasilev’s wife worked in one of Georgi Papaski’s companies from 25 April 2023 to 18 November 2025.
In Ukraine, Papaski had already obtained 50% of TOV Casino Solution in 2021, which owns the Betmatch trademark. The other 50% belonged to the Striminvest fund, which journalists link to the entourage of People’s Deputy from OPZZh, Vadim Stolar. Structures associated with Stolar have figured in stories about development business, Russian money and cooperation with Viktor Medvedchuk. Papaski claims he does not know Stolar and that the project was not implemented.
The Ukrainian arm of PT Play is overseen by Marina Sandik, who worked from 2012 to 2020 at Ukrbud Development of Maxim Mykytas. At that time, the legal direction of Ukrbud was headed by the current Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Oleg Tatarov, and Stolar’s structures were partners of the group.
PlayCity stated that before issuing licences to PT Play Ukraine and Euro Games Technology Ukraine, it sent inquiries to the SBU, the State Bureau of Investigation, the National Police, the BEB, the State Tax Service and the State Financial Monitoring Service. No grounds for refusal were found there. Papaski could not open the casino in the seized Premier Palace, but companies linked to him obtained licences as suppliers of equipment and software and continue to expand in Ukraine.
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