A Bellingcat investigation into sportsbetting giant 1xBet has revealed an illegal operation of manipulated games held in countries where the platform has been blanket banned, along with allowing bookmakers to bet on matches played by minors.

On Monday, Bellingcat revealed a joint investigation with football sleuths Josimar and found that its 24/7 stream of amateur sports games, ranging from football to ping pong, is hosted in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine — three countries where 1xBet is not allowed to operate.

Punters are particularly drawn to 1xBet’s range of amateur football games. The bitcoin-friendly casino hires men to play back-to-back matches, each time illegally representing a famous football team. According to one man, these games are undoubtedly rigged.

“Five goals was the maximum,” said a man who agreed to participate in mini football games for a week before realising how “sketchy” it all was.

“If you scored more, you would get less money. It was the rule.”

Teams were never told to win or lose — but instructing players to adhere to a goal limit is a form of match manipulation, according to the Macolin Convention. Misusing famous football team names, such as Real Madrid and Arsenal, also constitutes manipulation.

• 1xBet was founded in Russia by fugitives Dmitry Kazorin, Roman Semiokhin, and Sergey Karshkov.
• The firm is now based in Cyprus and licensed in Curacao.
• In 2021, 1xBet reportedly made over 63 million rubles ($655 million) in illegal gambling.

1xBet streams children’s matches, uses venue with ties to Putin

These rigged matches were hosted in non-descript venues which Bellingcat was able to geolocate. It revealed places like the Alexander Stepin football school in Bryansk, Russia, which enjoys a partnership with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and Gazprom, the country’s state-owned and internationally sanctioned energy supplier.

Alexander Stepin football school also hosts Russian military open days, wherein children are encouraged to hold rifles.

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Most intriguing, Bellingcat found a mountain of basketball games streamed from Ukraine as recently as last week. The country banned 1xBet when Russia invaded two years ago.

Bellingcat was further able to geolocate an authentic floorball match played by underage girls, which was streamed on 1xBet’s platform and made available for betting. The game was hosted by the National Floorball Federation of Russia, and appears to have been streamed without the knowledge of players or their legal guardians.

Why bother?

According to Ismail Vali, chief exec of Yield Sec, the objective of these dodgy games is to lure bettors into the big-ticket events.

“There’s not much traffic on those pages in terms of people who stay there and transact in volume – nobody’s on Ukrainian children’s basketball for 35 minutes and placing high value bets with any frequency.”

“The big play here,” Vali said, “is always to get the customers to casino because the profit margin there is far higher. The average customer on sports betting will produce a single digit profit margin: sports – legal and illegal – runs to around a 9 to 10 per cent profit margin. Casino, however, can run far higher – as much as a 50 per cent profit margin depending on product and gameplay,” (via Bellingcat).

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1xBet undoubtedly remains one of the largest gambling platforms in the world, yet frequently operates in countries where it does not enjoy a license. In some of these countries, like India, 1xBet is openly advertised with celebrity endorsements.

In other jurisdictions, however, 1xBet is duly facing scrutiny. The bitcoin-friendly gambling giant has been suspended in the UK, for example, and once faced a criminal complaint in Morocco.

Protos has reached out to 1xBet and will update this piece should it respond.

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