Parimatch is an international

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Sports bettors place their wagers either legally, through a sportsbook or bookmaker (colloquially known as "bookies"), or illegally through priva ...

company that operates in Europe, with its headquarters located in

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

History

Parimatch was established in 1994 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The company entered the Russian market in 1998. The online betting website was launched in 2000 and was one of the first among bookmakers in the CIS region. In September 2015, Parimatch entered the

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

market and began cooperation with Federbet to prevent match-fixing. In 2018, the company began operations in Tanzania and Cyprus. In December 2018, Parimatch's CEO, Sergey Portnov won 'Leader of the year award' at the SBC Awards held in London. In February 2020, the company joined the

Esports Integrity Commission The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), formerly the Esports Integrity Coalition, is a non-profit members' association established in 2016 to promote and facilitate competitive integrity in esports. Notable for investigating the coaching bug sc ...

to assist with battling cheating and fraud in esports. In March 2021, Parimatch became the first betting company in Ukraine to buy a license after a new law regulation was adopted by the local parliament. In June 2021, Parimatch expanded operations across India. In December 2021, Parimatch acquired the performance marketing organization Mr Fish in addition to the online poker room PokerMatch. In March 2022, Parimatch withdrew the franchise from Russia due to the full-scale military invasion into Ukraine. Following this, in May, Parimatch announced they had organized the Parimatch Foundation and had allocated €510,000 to support the people of Ukraine. The foundation, originally set up for educational and sports projects, has reallocated its resources toward helping Ukrainian women and children during the humanitarian crisis. In April 2022, Parimatch announced a restructuring of its management, appointing Maksym Liashko as the new CEO of the organization as Roman Syrotian (former CEO) stepped into a supervisory role. In May 2022, Parimatch continued with the company's plan for international expansion by opening a new European hub in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. Additionally, the new office provided a working environment for the company employees from Ukraine. The previous company R&D center was in Kyiv but has been relocated for safety reasons due to military activity around the capital. In December 2023, Maksym Liashko stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Parimatch. In September 2024, Kateryna Biloruska sold her controlling stake in Parimatch Group to Sergey Portnov. Subsequently, Portnov became the sole owner of Parimatch Group after buying out some minority shareholders.

License

Parimatch operated under local licenses issued by the regulatory authorities of each country in

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, and Tanzania. The company also carried out its activity under the international license of the self-governing territory

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

( eGaming). On October 1, 2020, Parimatch launched into the UK market with their website being run by BV Gaming Limited. On March 10, Parimatch LLC had its operations in Ukraine suspended by the National Security and Defense Council, as . The sanctions affected all property of the company, including its subsidiary websites and the licensed website PM.UA. As a result of the blocking, approximately 250 million hryvnias of Ukrainian players' funds were frozen in Parimatch's accounts
according to Maksym Lyashko

References

{{Reflist Bookmakers Companies based in Limassol Companies established in 1994