1xBet hosts thousands of fake matches, including in Belarus. They earn astronomical sums
The bookmaker 1xBet organizes a huge number of fictitious matches in various sports, in which non-professional players and even small children are drawn in for money. These matches are held 24/7 in closed premises without spectators, people are dressed in the uniforms of famous world teams, and thanks to bets they earn huge sums of money on them. Belarusian sports facilities are also used as venues for matches.
Footage from the broadcasts of the scandalous bookmaker 1xBet, during which bets are placed on fictitious amateur games in various sports. Photo: Bellingcat / Josimar
A joint investigation by the Bellingcat project and the sports investigation platform Josimar has revealed details of a large-scale scam.
1xBet amateur tournaments are broadcast worldwide and feature players from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, including young children.
The so-called short football is extremely popular on the broadcasts of illegal amateur games. It involves teams of two to five players on each side and lasts ten to twelve minutes. When the match is over, the players change shirts and start a new game on one of the adjacent pitches, separated from each other by curtains. Thus, Arsenal can turn into Amsterdam or Dortmund. The main thing is that the action is continuous, and there is always a game to bet on, both day and night.
All bookmakers accept bets on such matches and tournaments, but in this case we are talking about the organization of such competitions by bookmakers in order to increase their own income.
The same players, wearing the jerseys of various world-famous football teams, play in non-stop illegal amateur matches organised by the bookmaker 1xBet. Photo: Bellingcat / Josimar
In illegal short-pitch football matches, you can also see teams such as Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and others. Players are dressed in the uniform of these famous teams for better viewing and increased betting income. At the same time, 1xBet is a global partner of FC Barcelona, as well as PSG, Olympique Lille, Serie A and the African Football Confederation (CAF).
Players are also dressed in the uniforms of non-existent teams, given fictitious names and new fake leagues are created.
According to Bellingcat and Josimar, people are paid for participating in these games (though it is not known whether all players are paid). One of the short-form football players interviewed by the investigators said that he plays multiple matches for different teams during a five-hour shift every day of the week. According to him, shifts change constantly, games are played at night, and “some participants do not leave the courts during the day” because they need the money.
The man claims that he earned more in a year than the average doctor in Russia (the average salary of a Russian doctor is about 40 thousand rubles a month — that's 1,360 Belarusian rubles).
Illegal fake short-course football matches organized by illegal bookmaker 1xBet.
Bellingcat's analysis found that 1xBet streamed 1,297 amateur short-form football matches live over a 24-hour period in September. By comparison, the German Bundesliga, English Premier League and Spanish La Liga have a combined 1,066 games per season.
1xBet runs amateur fake games every day, they are broadcast non-stop and are watched by around 5 million viewers per month. This means that the number of amateur football matches broadcast on this site each year is almost half a million. And that's just short football.
The 1xBet scam was carried out on an industrial scale. The bookmaker broadcasts videos from various venues where amateur tournaments in basketball, volleyball, floorball, hockey, tennis, table tennis and so on are also held. There are also absurd sports, such as "Subsoccer" (also known as "bench football"), where two players try to score a ball into a small net while sitting on benches almost next to each other.
Still from the Subsoccer broadcast on the 1xBet website
All illegal amateur matches are held in warehouses and converted arenas, some of which resemble sets from the TV series The Squid Game, Bellingcat and Josimar note.
Until now, it has been unknown where exactly these short matches are held, and 1xBet itself has never disclosed this information, regularly testing some players with a lie detector to find out whether they have told anyone about the nature of their employment and the locations of the games.
However, journalists were able to identify the locations of several sites, some of which are in Belarus. For example, 1xBet holds closed, fictitious tennis competitions under the auspices of the Daily Aqua Tour at the private tennis academy Avante Club in Minsk and organizes illegal basketball matches on the courts of the state sports complex Olimpiets in Mogilev, which serves as a base for the Mogilev Regional Center of Olympic Reserve in Athletics (moreover, these basketball matches are held by fictitious teams within the framework of the so-called Belarusian Sky League, which officially does not exist in the country).
Neither Avante Club nor the Mogilev Regional Olympic Reserve Center for Track and Field responded to requests from the Bellingcat and Josimar projects to comment on the situation.
It is characteristic that the bookmaker 1xBet itself officially suspended its activities in Belarus and stopped serving Belarusian clients, prohibiting them from placing bets, creating deposits and withdrawing funds.
Closed fake tennis competitions for 1xbet are held at the tennis academy Avante Club in Minsk. Screenshot of the investigation Bellingcat / Josimar
Closed fake basketball competitions for 1xbet are held at the state sports complex "Olimpiets" in Mogilev. Screenshot of the 1xBet broadcast from the Bellingcat investigation / Josimar
In Russia, where 1xBet is officially banned and prosecuted for breaking the law, the bookmaker also hosts many illegal matches. Investigative journalists have found that underground 1xBet games are regularly held
- at the Mordovia Arena stadium (one of the largest stadiums in Russia, built specifically for the 2018 FIFA World Cup),
- based at the Alexander Stepin professional football school in Bryansk, which cooperates with the ruling Russian party United Russia and the state energy corporation Gazprom,
- at the Belomorets stadium on the basis of the Zvezdochka physical culture and recreation complex in Severodvinsk.
These sites involve children aged 14 to 16, both boys and girls, in fictitious games, and also host children's military-patriotic events where they are taught how to use weapons.
A mock basketball match at the Mordovia Arena stadium on October 15, 2024 (top). A military-patriotic event with weapons at the same Mordovia Arena (bottom). Photo: Bellingcat / Josimar
A mock short-ball match at the Alexander Stepin Professional Football School in Bryansk (top). A military-patriotic event with the same children (bottom). Photo: Bellingcat / Josimar
A fictitious 1xbet floorball match at the Belomorets stadium in Severodvinsk, involving girls aged 14-15. A frame from a 1xbet broadcast for September 2024.
Investigators also found one illegal 1xBet gaming venue in Ukraine, where the bookmaker was officially banned after the Russian invasion began. Fake basketball games are still being held at the Svoi Arena in Kyiv.
In response to a request from the Bellingcat and Josimar projects, the management of Svoi Arena stated that it “knows nothing about cooperation with 1xbet.”
One of the 1xbet fake basketball matches that was held at Kyiv's Svoi Arena in September 2024. Still from the 1xBet broadcast
The main founders and organizers of the illegal bookmaker 1xBet are Russians Dmitry Kazorin, Roman Semiokhin, Sergey Karshkov. They all come from Bryansk.
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1xBet organizers (from left to right): Dmitry Kazorin, Roman Semiokhin, Sergey Karshkov
In the mid-2000s, Semiokhin and his partners opened a computer club in a basement in one of Bryansk's residential areas. In addition to teenagers, older people came to the club to bet on sports. Sometimes the bets exceeded the club's daily revenue. Then Semiokhin decided to create a network of betting offices under the wing of Fanbet.
He opened his first point in the House of Culture of the local machine-building plant. The KVN team, captained by Sergei Karshkov (he would later become the head of the Department for Combating Cybercrime), also performed there.
When casinos were closed in Russia in 2009, bookmakers flourished.
Several years ago, the 1xbet trademark migrated to a Cyprus offshore. The Russian legal brand remained "1xstavka".
Russian investigators estimated the bookmakers' illegal income for the period from 2017 to 2022 at 63 billion Russian rubles ($848 million). The owners of the office were put on an international wanted list and a warrant was issued for their arrest.
By that time, Bryansk billionaires had already received Cypriot passports and are still sitting on the island.
There are 400 IT specialists working in the bookmakers' Cyprus office. About 80 percent of them are people from Bryansk. There are also workers from Belarus. An IT specialist there earns from 3,500 euros. Plus, the company builds houses and gives employees interest-free loans for apartments.
1xBet hosts thousands of fake matches, including in Belarus. They earn astronomical sums8
1xBet hosts thousands of fake matches, including in Belarus. They earn astronomical sums
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