Ghost chasing: 1xBet, sport’s elusive gambling sponsor

As reported by Josimar, 1xbet was recently declared bankrupt for not returning its customers. However, despite regulatory action in three jurisdictions, the gambling operator is still accepting bets today. It also remains a major sports sponsor, with contracts with FC Barcelona, ​​the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Serie A, and many other Italian companies.

1xbet continues to operate because modern gambling operators are international and not located in a single jurisdiction, meaning that a region-centric regulatory regime will always be one step behind savvy operators who can register multiple domains, licenses, and offices around the world.

This approach allows operators to continue to get regulators to ban their sites in certain regions or remove their licenses. Bold operators may even argue that their copies of the original site licensed abroad are independent, thwarting law enforcement efforts to exploit their assets.

As Joshimal and the Sports Integrity Initiative (SII) have previously reported, gambling has permeated sports, especially football, making it a very difficult task to pinpoint where the money generated by operators goes. This is acknowledged in the Asian Racing Federation's (ARF) recent "State of Illegal Gambling Report," which highlights that the explosion of sports betting and regulators' crackdown on traditional forms of money laundering have made it an attractive area for criminals.

The ARF report states that organized crime may set up sports betting companies for money laundering purposes. "These organizations will of course provide mainstream gamblers with an avenue to bet on sports, but their main purpose will be to act as underground money centers. "The criminal syndicates will operate as independent betting entities without paying sales tax and without providing support to law enforcement or government regulators. All they need for this is high-speed internet access and a base in a sympathetic country. Such conditions already exist in various parts of the world, and there are several examples of organized crime groups operating in this way.

There is no evidence that 1xbet is operated in the way of ARF. However, 1XBET operates a huge domain network around the world, and is almost impossible to close. As we discovered, pursuing where the company is located and where it is, is like chasing ghosts.

Who are 1xBet?

Inside Bransk office of 1XBET. sauce

The 1XBET was established by Roman Semio Hin (Roman сох), Dmitry Casoline (е кашов) and Sergey Calshkov (и казор). In October of last year, the three were nominated as the founder of 1XBET by the Russian Federal Investigation Committee Bransk (SKR/с), with 1XBET with 63 billion rubles (459 million pounds/551 million euros). He was convicted that he had earned illegal gambling income.

"From October 2014 to May 2019, three residents of the regional center, which are currently being nominated from October 2014 to May 2019, organize and implement gambling on 1XBET information resources on the Buriank's office. He stated in a statement that he had developed software and the implementation of the website. "The gambling was performed without acquiring a license issued by the Russian Federal Tax Bureau in accordance with the procedures stipulated by law.

Four Russians are nominated by authorities in connection with 1XBET. Roman Semiohin is the upper left, Sergey Calshkov is the upper right, Dmitry Cazoline in the lower left, and Sergey Cleechetov is the lower right.

Yes, please read accurately. Despite being established by three Russian entrepreneurs in Bransk, Russian city, 1XBET has no Russian license. Four main characters of 1xbet (here, here, here, here) are on the SKR's "Nomination" list. A website (currently stopped) for the company's fraudulent victims (estimated) in Russia has been established.

It was not the first time last October that 1XBET was noticed by Russian regulators. Russian nations operate services that can be used to confirm whether access to websites has been restricted due to federal law violations of information, technology, and information protection. Access to 1xbet. com is prohibited by two decisions in 2013 and 2016. All three decisions are mentioned in Article 15. 1 is about the violation of the Russian gambling law.

As reported by Josimar, on May 6 this year, the Curacao Court approved the appeal of the Online Gaming Victims Representative Foundation (SBOK) against the court's first instance ruling that dismissed the bankruptcy claim against 1xcorp N. V.

SBOK works with clients who have assessed that they have legitimate claims against Curacao-licensed gaming operators, such as failure to meet repayment obligations or failing to implement anti-gambling measures. But gambling is worth a lot of money in Curacao.

In its report, the ARF estimated that more than 12. 000 gaming operators are licensed through agreements with four licensees: Cyberluck Curacao N. V., Gaming Curacao (GC) #365/JAZ, Curacao Interactive Licensing N. V. (CIL) #5536/JAZ; and Antillephone NV #8048/JAZ. In Curacao, these four main licensees allow the issuance of sublicensees to applicants for between 35. 000 and 45. 000 euros per year, generating approximately 480 million euros in license fees per year (120 million euros per licensee per year).

Most gambling regulators provide a list of operators. There is no way to check exactly which gambling operators are licensed in Curacao.

The sporting connection

Despite the crisis against 1xbet in Russia and Curacao, sports, especially football, are used to promote 1xbet. 1xbet has also been targeted by the UK regulator.

In August 2019, an investigation by The Sunday Times revealed that 1xbet offered odds on sports for children, and promoted a topless bouncing "Pornhub" casino. Then, following an investigation by the Gambling Commission, 1xbet ceased operations in the UK, and Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur terminated their sponsorship contracts with 1xbet. But it's not all about football.

If you try to access 1xbet in France, you will be redirected...

1xbet is not available in Spain, where it has a contract with FC Barcelona until July 2024. In France, it is not accessible because it redirects you to another operator licensed in Curacao, which is the African betting partner of Olympique Lyonnais and has an address in Nicosia, Cyprus. However, it is accessible in some African countries.

List of 1xbet sponsorship contracts...

It also agreed a similar deal with Spain's La Liga, giving it no access to Italy, its "current partner" in Serie A. It also sponsored the revived 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), held in January and February this year.

1xbet agreed a sponsorship deal with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in February 2019. Late last year, Russians Artur and Vadim Mirudov were revealed to be attempting to enter Kenya after being denied re-entry to the country in 2019 due to a deportation order.

The brothers are alleged to be agents of 1xbet, which is banned in Kenya. The two are believed to have been directors of Midlands Logistics, a now-recovered company with an address in Nicosia, Cyprus.

In Russian, "BET" is "с €" and in English it is "Stavka". 1xstavka. ru is licensed to offer odds in Russia. This Russian gambling site has a name that is strikingly similar to 1xbet, as this archived site shows. Access to 1xstavka has never been restricted to Russia.

1xStavka (1xich) was the sponsor of FC Krasnodar and FC Zenit until 2020. When these clubs played in European competitions, 1xbet adorned their shirts instead of 1xссв ...

Winline

On the same day (31 July 2020), Winline announced that it would replace 1xstavka and sign a three-year contract to sponsor FC Krasnodar and FC Zenit from the beginning of the 2020/21 season (statements here and here). The method of obtaining a license is very similar to 1xstavka and 1xbet.

Winline. ru is licensed to operate in Russia by the Federal Tax Service of Russia License No. 7 and another license to offer betting in Russia issued in 2016. However, WinlineBet. com has almost the same license in Russia, and there is no trace of a license on the 1xbet website. Both Winline sites offer the exact same odds on the exact same games as 1xbet and 1xstavka.

It is understandable that WinlineBet. com claims to hold a license to provide gambling services from the Costa Rican government. However, just like in Curacao, a gambling company only needs to register a Costa Rican corporation; register with the local tax authorities; and obtain a commercial license from the local government.

On a website's page, Winline. ru claims that it was established in 2009. He argues that he no longer worships a similar site in the West to keep a distance from WinlineBet. com. However, the "rules" page of the WinlineBet. com website are Russian and mentions "Winline" instead of "Winlinebet".

The rules of WinlineBet. com are different from those published on the Winline. ru website, but they mention Russian legal companies, not WinLineBet. com. Why is a "similar company on the west" that can be operated only outside Russia, creating new rules and mentioning another company that has been approved only in Russia? If not in Russia, why write these rules in Russian?

The payment page indicates that WinlineBet. com is targeting Russia. This page states that payments from the EU member, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan are all paid. "Temporarily, the funds are paid only to card issued by the Russian Bank.

In this way, WinLineBet. com accepts bets from various countries. However, if the bet is successful, a Russian bank card is required to get the prize money. And your payment will be processed by Hilonius Management LTD., a company based in Nicocia in Cyprus.

The address of this company is published in Panama documents. Of course, Panama documents only indicate that the company is linked to the offshore bank account, and does not suggest criminal acts automatically.

Similar conditions are also presented on the Winline. ru payment page. However, the important difference is that the payment is processed by TSUPIS (цц), the only payment provider licensed to handle gambling transactions by Russian law, such as 1XSTAVKA.

Winline. ru and WinlineBet. com are either the same person or someone cloned the site. Winlinebet. com claims that it has been operated since 2009, so it seems that the latter is unlikely. There was no evidence that Winline. ru had filed a complaint about clones in the 13 years when WinlineBet. com was operating.

Similarly, there is no evidence that 1XSTAVKA complains to many "clones". And the number is large. More than 300 different versions of 1XBET are published on the illegal gambling websites of the Cyprus National Gambling Bureau.

Winlinebet LTD. was registered in House Companies in the UK until October 2020, but has been registered. Corneliu Bunchiuk, Via Ceslaf Baylam Durdy Evitch Chariev, and Deepak Davidas Setti have been listed in connection with the company.

In 2019, an OpenDemoccer survey revealed that Shetty was nominated as a director of Corso Solutions LP. The Corso Solutions LP is one of multiple companies established by Charyev as part of the international network established. According to the survey, Chariev operates a network of o n-shore and offshore companies registered around the world, suggesting that it is related to money laundering.

Curaçao, via Cyprus…

1XBET has a registered office in Curacao and Cyprus. On the website, 1XBET claims that it has a license issued by Curacaseau Egaming 1668/Jaz, so 1XBET owner 1XCORP N. V. needs to achieve the Kuraseau address. The license held by 1XBET 1668/Jaz is registered in Cyberluck Curaçao n. V., another name for Curraçao egaming.

All you need to get a cula sawing license is the documents owned by the registered company, SII, which are registered locally. Which bookmaker has acquired a license for the curashagaming cannot be confirmed on the website of Curacasawgaming. Therefore, it is doubtful whether the 1XBET culassaw license is stripped of it.

According to the sources, less than 60 bookmakers report the same license number that 1XBET is used. If you search for 1XBET license numbers on Google, many sites claim to be meaningless. Some sites say, "It's better to get a license from houseplants." According to the information that the sixture tells SII, this actually means that no one is responsible for a bookmaker with a curs e-license.

Company details from the 1XBET website ...

The 1XBET website's exemptions states that it is operated by Klafkaniro LTD., Bonnal LTD., and Curusaw 1XCORP N. V., which is currently bankrupt, but KLAFKANIRO and Bonnal LTD. are both based on Cyprus's address. I have it. Bonal's address is also described on the 1XBET corporate website, and confusing, the same Cyprus address is the company owner.

In the Cyprus company registry, Olena Hanych is described as a director of EXINVEST, and OpenCorporates states that she was also a director of Bonnal and Klafkaniro LTD. No information about HANYCH was found in Russian or English. The 1XBET website states the address of Klafkaniro LTD. Nicocia, but the Cyprus registry does not agree with it, and has another address on the Bonal LTD.'s base.

Ghost chasing

If 1XBET is a Curaceau and WinLineBet has a Costa Rica license, why do both companies need an address in Cyprus? I visited the Mediterranean holiday to find out.

Nothing in the nine addresses I visited, no suggesting a company related to gambling business. There was no evidence in the Codros address we visited, which were listed as 1XBET or WinLinebet owners.

Previously, the address of the Midlands Logistics, which was owned by Vadim Mildov, which was considered 1XBET agent, seemed to have been abandoned a while ago. The apartments were scattered in the abandoned personal belongings, and the garage was decorated with dusty cars punctured.

Two Russians tanned to the court of Litanzia, the address of the 1XBET KLAFKANIRO LTD, and left the location. However, the existence of Russians in Cyprus is unlikely to be abnormal. According to the survey, only 1XBET and WinLinebet. com are not bookmakers with links to Cyprus. For example, a company that redirects 1XBET to France also describes Nicocia's address.

Mapping of chaypross link to 1xbet (open to open) ...

The use of Cyprus companies by Russians is not limited to gambling. In 2012/13, Cyprus was hit by a financial crisis. This affected Russians who had deposited funds in Cyprus financial institutions after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Naturally, many Russians with a large amount of deposits have acquired the Kiprus bank shares to make up for the loss.

In addition, Russian was the biggest person who received his passport through the Cyprus investment scheme that Al Jazira revealed. Applicants from more than 70 countries were invited to donate 2 million euros in exchange for their people to apply for Cyprus citizenship. Under the system, more than 2, 500 applied for Cyprus citizens, of which 2, 500 were Russian.

"Glaham Barrow, an economic crime expert, said to Sii," Cyprus is a place where Russian business customs can relax. "Cyprus also provides a secret level for those who do not want the authorities to know the business connection. It's also a place. " Yakubu Yanda, director of the European Value Center, said another way. "Cyprus is a Russian bank with a dirty funding, pretending to be the EU nation," he recently tweeted.

Russia calling

1xstavka license ...

So is there a connection between 1xBet and 1xStavka? If such a connection can be established, Russian gambling regulators may question why 1xStavka was allowed to continue operating after 1xBet was convicted of unlicensed gambling by law enforcement authorities last October.

1xStavka holds license No. 17 of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, issued on October 1, 2010 and reissued on August 14, 2019. It is therefore registered to pay taxes to the Russian state from gambling winnings. Payments to 1xStavka are processed by TSUPIS (ЦУПИС). TSUPIS is the only payment provider licensed under Russian law to process gambling transactions. This means that customer payments to gambling operators in Russia are regulated and protected.

1xStavka operates under a license issued in 2010 to another company called Bookmaker Pub Ltd. This company (pictured in the header of this article) registered the “1xStavka” and “1x” trademarks on March 27, 2020.

1xStavka’s office in Bryansk...

Last October, when 1xBet was indicted in Russia and its owners fled to Cyprus, the “1xStavka” and “1x” brands were able to continue offering betting in Russia through a license issued to Bookmaker Pub Ltd.

ЕГРЮЛ lists 1xBet’s Dmitry Kazolin as the founder of Bookmaker Pub Ltd., which holds the 1xStavka license.

The Russian Betting Association lists 1xStavka’s registered office in Bryansk, Russia, where 1xBet’s fraudulent activities were discovered. Moreover, the Russian Unified Register of Legal Entities (ЕГРЮЛ) lists Dmitry Kazolin as Founding Bookmaker Pub Ltd., which holds a license to offer bets in Russia for 1xStavka on April 12, 2018. And he is one of four people sought by Russian authorities in connection with 1xBet's illegal gambling proceeds.

Google Maps lists the address of a 1xBet store in Omsk, and a 2014 photo shows the 1xBet branding. However, a 2021 Google Street View image shows the same store renamed 1xStavka (see right).

1xBet is accessible from jurisdictions such as Georgia, Moldova, Hong Kong, and South Korea. In Georgia and Moldova, typing 1xStavka. ru into your browser redirects you to 1xBet-23286. top.

Data

To summarise, 1xBet has been convicted in Russia for defrauding customers, declared bankrupt by a court in Curacao for failing to refund customers, and has restricted access in a number of other jurisdictions.

According to SKR's Bransk branch, 1XBET has accepted customers since 2014. On June 6, SII logged in to 1xbet, still operated and accepted the bed. Despite these regulation concerns, how could we continue to operate?

All bookmakers require a data provider. Gambling businesses cannot be operated without accurate and prompt information about what is happening in the stadium, especially when odds and impressions are involved.

Analyzing the source code of 1XSTAVKA, 1xbet, Winline. ru, and WinlineBet. com revealed that all four companies were supplied by Sportradar. Winline. ru claims that it has a data contract with these companies, but no evidence is found in Winline site source code that data is supplied from Betgenius or IMG.

Analysis of 1xstavka and 1XBET source code shows that both are provided by Sportradar.

This does not suggest that it is inappropriate from Swiss sports data and perfection. The clone of a license and a regulated site also copy the source code of the site, such as who provides data to provide the odds of soccer games.

Winline and WinLinbet have the same source code, both of which are provided by Sportradar.

We asked SPORTRADAR if data was provided on both 1XSTAVKA and 1XBET. Sportradar refused to comment. Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions, Sportradar has already confirmed that it will continue to provide data to Russian bookmakers.

Winline and WinLinbet have the same source code, both of which are provided by Sportradar.

"We are still working (in Russia)," said the company's Casten Kale, CEO, to Bloomberg. The company told LegalsportSreport that withdrawing from Russia would lose $ 13 million. Koerl has 23 % of Russian bookmakers Liga Stavok's shares, Playthegame.

Astrabet

Another company with a license in Russia is ASTRABET. RU, operating under the Russian Federal Tax Bureau's license 33. Looking at the "ABOUT US" section on the Astrabet. ru website, you can see that SPORTRADAR LLC, which has acquired a license to provide betting in 2020, is owned.

Is this an unfortunate coincidence, or is it an intentional attempt to split integrated giants? Sportradar has denied the relationship with Russian companies with the same name.

"Sportradar Group AG has nothing to do with Russia's SPORTRADAR LLC." We continue to disagree with copyright infringement and guarantee that our trademarks will be respected.

Russia's SPORTRADAR was established in 2018 by Cyprus company Magandini Holdings. SPORTRADAR has registered the company name a year ago. Russia's SPORTRADAR seems to have violated the trademark happily for four years.

Astrabet. com is accessible from outside Russia and has a license 365/jaz issued by the Netherlands Antilles Management NV. There is no suggestion that these two sites are connected by something other than the name. Astrabet. com is operated by Bislot N. v. in Curacaaw, and its subsidiary, FactData LTD., is registered in the UK.

SPORTRADAR LLC is a company registered in Russia, and is the General Manager Aleksey Vyacheslavich Smaznov (а вавов сазов). The registered office is an office building in Moscow. However, as mentioned above, the company was founded by Magundini Holdings, and the registered address is a housing building near Paralimni and Malama Beach south of Cyprus's Famagsta.

The main beneficiary of Magundini Holdings is Roman Semiochin, according to the siden spoken to SII. He is one of the four 1XBET founders who have been appointed by Russian authorities who fled to Cyprus after being charged in October last year.

Stake.com

As mentioned earlier, the connection with Cyprus is not limited to Russian soccer clubs. Stake. com has recently agreed to a record club sponsor contract with Everton. He is also a sponsor of England's soccer club, Watford, and is also a sponsor of Swindon Town in the FA Cup. It is worth it appears in the advertising cluster of the FA Premier League.

In the UK, Stake. uk. com reports that it is "operated" by TGP Europe on the Islands licensed by the British Gambling Committee. However, outside the UK, Stake. com is owned and operated by Medium Rare N. v., and its address is described in Nicosia in Cyprus.

The address of this address, Lizatia Court, 2087 Nicosia, Cyprus, is the same as the address given by 1XBET to Klafkaniro LTD., one of the owners. It also mentions the terms of use of sites that feature the UK as a company owner.

Therefore, Stake. uk. com or Stake. com's bed seems to be processed by the Cyprus company via the Curassava license 8048/jazgent to the holder of the Antillephone Master License. Medium Rare N. V. also registers a curaseau address to get a license. However, Cyprus company, which is described as the owner of Stake. com, has the same address as a company related to 1XBET.

The 8048/JAZ Curacao Egaming license held by Stake. com is used by more gaming operators than the 1668/Jaz Curacaseau Egaming license held by 1XBET. According to sources, more than 100 bookmakers have reported the same license number. Furthermore, it has been shown that all four major culasaw licenses are the USP method of Stake. com and do not cover the main payment method.

TGP Europe runs a large number of Internet gambling sites in a small office on a Joe Joe Gennings Gambling store on Man Island. Whether the TGP Europe and/ or the gambling committee are monitoring whether these websites are compliant with license requirements, as previously reported by SII and Joshimaru, to fall into a regulation gap. appear.

This is because the Gambling Committee has listed 14 "White Label" websites managed by TGP Europe, while TGP European websites are listed on 15 websites. I understand.

Watford did not know that there is a connection between Stake. com and 1XBET. However, the club said that when 1XBET was operated in the UK, it could have been "operated" by TGP Europe before the Gambling Committee was announced.

Watford has confirmed that Stakecom paid Watford's cryptoclencies sponsor fee and received it in Stirling. He also said he had met several representatives of Stake. com. FC Zenito and FC Class No Dal did not answer the question. Neither 1XBET and WinLinebet answered.

Opaque

The complex survey described above indicates how opaque gambling is involved in sports. It cannot be expected that the Sports Federation and Club will conduct such a survey of the ownership of all gambling operators who offer sponsor contracts.

It is alarming that sports organizations are signing contracts with companies that appear to operate a similar business model to 1xBet, and that many of them come from opaque companies in Cyprus. If the gambling business is a legitimate business, why are the owners of these companies not as transparent as most of the big players in the gambling industry? This is a question that every sport approached by an unknown gambling operator should ask.

Can FC Barcelona or CAF be held responsible for encouraging their customers to bet with a company that does not protect their honor? If Winlinenet. com is declared bankrupt in a similar situation to 1xBet, can FC Krasnodar and FC Zenit claim that they did not know that it was an international copy of Winline. ru, given that both clubs had past ties with 1xStavka/1xBet? Is it worth taking such a risk?

The confusion over who owns 1xBet and where its profits go should be a wake-up call for gambling regulators and licensors around the world, as well as for all sports that still have a stake in 1xBet. The 1xBet situation shows what can happen when a poorly controlled licensing regime is combined with big money. 1xBet has been operating since 2014, according to Bryansk SKR, and since 2007, according to Wikipedia. It continues to operate today, despite being subject to regulatory measures in three jurisdictions.

1xBet is able to do this not only because of a poor licensing regime, but also because of poor regulatory control of the data companies that provide it with the information it needs to offer betting. It is worrying that standards of sporting integrity would make such companies willing to provide data that can be used to offer bets. If such a soul were to disappear, such companies would not be able to touch sport with a 10-foot pole.

- The creation of this article is part of an investigation funded by a grant from the European Investigative Journalism Fund (IJ4EU).