DCH Group exits gambling business — two weeks after entering the market and less than 24 hours after mass raids began

The DCH Group has officially announced the closure of all projects related to online and offline gambling. This was stated in a company press release published on May 30. The decision was made as part of a strategic review and a shift in focus toward fintech, e-commerce, and insurance.

“We have decided to concentrate on areas where we see potential and synergy with our current investments. Today, the gambling market is practically closed to new players,” said DCH Strategy Director Oleksiy Bolkhovitinov.

According to him, over the next three years, the company plans to invest approximately UAH 5 billion in the development of fintech services, including solutions in online banking, BNPL (“buy now — pay later”), microinsurance, and digital financial distribution.

Earlier, it became known that Credit Dnipro Bank, part of the DCH Group, had obtained the MCC 7995 code, which allows for direct processing of payments for online casinos and betting platforms. MCC 7995 is a merchant category code designated by Visa for gambling transactions. In Ukraine, obtaining this code is rare and typically requires high-level regulatory and political approval. In addition, the company received approval from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the national competition regulator) to acquire the licensed gambling company Nation Digital Entertainment LLC. However, DCH now claims that the acquisition was only considered as part of a “preliminary investment analysis” and will not be implemented.

The exit from gambling projects came almost immediately after DCH’s active market entry — less than two weeks earlier, the group had received key permits and publicly declared its interest in the sector. This decision coincided with large-scale raids on DCH offices — on May 29, the National Police conducted 49 searches as part of a case involving alleged money laundering linked to Ukrtatnafta, one of Ukraine’s largest oil refining companies. Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi is also involved in another high-profile episode — a fatal 2022 traffic accident involving his motorcade, in which a pedestrian was killed and initial attempts were allegedly made to assign blame to a subordinate. The investigation has yielded no public results.

Experts view DCH’s withdrawal from gambling as a tactical move for self-protection — an attempt to urgently shed a toxic asset, reduce pressure from regulators, and distance the group from a sector under close scrutiny by both Ukrainian and international authorities. Credit Dnipro’s receipt of the MCC 7995 code effectively made DCH a monopoly player in the Ukrainian gambling acquiring market — following sanctions against IBOX Bank, this code now grants exclusive legal access to process gambling transactions within Ukrainian jurisdiction. The formal exit from the operator business allows the group to retain control over the payment infrastructure. In essence, the risks have been offloaded — the profits remain.