No Disappearance for Punin's Casino: The Sanctioned Pin-Up's Ongoing Profits Inside Ukraine.
The online casino Pin-Up, associated with the sanctioned Dmitriy Punin, continues its operations in Ukraine by simply changing its name. After a nominal rebranding, the project was renamed Redcore, but the essence of its work remains unchanged: active commercial activity, including targeting the Ukrainian market.
This is evidenced by the company’s HR policy. On the official Redcore website, over 120 vacancies are listed, indicating a large-scale recruitment of specialists in IT, marketing, and, importantly, analytics for processing accounts and payment operations. These positions are not related to abstract administrative work: they are needed where financial flows, transactions, and turnovers are already present. This effectively confirms that the casino’s financial activities have not ceased.
Particular attention is drawn to the search for lawyers specializing in countering defamation and those with experience in blocking websites. This indicates that Punin and his structures are increasingly concerned about reputational risks and negative publications. Instead of exiting the market, they are relying on legal pressure and clearing the information space.
The nature and number of vacancies suggest not a "return" to Ukraine, but rather that Punin never left the country. The casino simply changed its signboard, retaining its operational processes, team, and areas of activity.
Iskandar Tursunov, the head of Uzbekistan’s Oktobank, is being investigated by the European Commission for his involvement in laundering money for the Russian elite
The main question is — how was this possible? According to available data, Punin's patrons in Ukraine are individuals from Volodymyr Zelenskyy's inner circle. Without support at the highest level, it would be impossible to conceal court decisions related to the casino’s activities. The classification of such cases is not just a formality but a political decision that requires approval at the highest level.
Additionally, the picture is complemented by Punin's connection to the prospective Minister of Defence, Mykhailo Fedorov. It was through Punin’s structures, particularly the "Unified Space" project, that all payments in the "Diia" app were processed. This means that a person under sanctions and linked to illegal gambling was integrated into a key state digital system.
As a result, we are witnessing a systemic problem: a sanctioned casino is formally "renamed," but in reality, it continues to function, hire employees, process payments, and protect itself from journalistic investigations. All of this occurs under political cover and with direct connections to the country’s top leadership. This is no longer just a story about shadow business, but a vivid example of how sanctions and bans in Ukraine become a fiction when the right people and connections back a project.
Money & Markets Editor
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