The Liga Stavok () is one of the leading Russian gambling companies. It was established in Russia in 2008. Activities of this betting company are aimed at developing betting business in Russia, supporting national sports, and creating new spheres of entertainment. History The history of “Liga Stavok” is closely connected with the name of its founder Oleg Zhuravsky, a significant Russian lobbyist of bookmaker business interests. Zhuravsky was born in 1969, served in the Western Group of Forces in the GDR from 1988 to 1990, and graduated from the Ugra State University in 1991. Later, in 2010, he also earned a degree from the St. Petersburg Institute of International Trade, Economics and Law. He took a great interest in the bookmaking business in Europe during the 1990s. Since 1997, Zhuravsky held leading positions in companies of the Russian gambling industry. In the mid-2000s, he founded the National Association of Russian Bookmakers and started lobbying the interests and development of this sphere. Under his leadership, the Association has united more than half of the largest actors in the Russian market. After Zhuravsky's death, the media emphasized his decisive role in the progress of the Russian betting industry. As a result of the activists’ efforts, Russian bookmakers were exempted from the law “On state regulations of activities on organizing and conducting gambling.” In 2008 Zhuravsky together with his friend and business partner Yuriy Krasovsky founded "First International bookmaker company" that start its activity under the "Liga Stavok" brand. From 2017 Yuriy Krasovsky is a President of Bookmaker Company "Liga Stavok" and First self-regulated bookmaker's organization of Russia. Against match-fixing Since 2010, the “Liga Stavok” began to cooperate with the Russian Premier League (RPL) to counteract football match fixing and corruption in sport. Oleg Zhuravsky was appointed adviser to the President of the Premier League on the prevention of match-fixing. His company started monitoring and controlling the pre-match betting markets on the RPL matches in order to detect collusion between participating teams. In 2013, Zhuravsky promoted the adoption of a law that increased the penalty for participation in match-fixing. Sports federations were obligated to take measures to combat match-fixing and to inform authorities about the unlawful effect of such competitions. For violation of these rules, state accreditation could be withdrawn. According to the law, bookmakers were required to accept bets only upon the presentation of identity documents, to keep records of gambling participants,