Esports entrepreneur Kokhanovskyy talks Dnipro Hotel purchase, controversial sponsors and future of games

Esports entrepreneur Alexander Kokhanovskyy poses in his office in Kyiv. Kokhanovskyy and partners he doesn’t disclose bought the Dnipro Hotel to turn it into the first arena in Europe dedicated entirely to competitive video gaming, where teams or individuals play against each other for prize money in front of millions of viewers watching on- and offline, despite speculations on the origin of the money. He wants to develop the whole “esports ecosystem” in Ukraine with arenas and gaming centers in major Ukrainian cities within the next five years, he told Kyiv Post on Aug. 14.