Brand Breakdown: 1xBet — How a CIS Brand Became One of the Most Recognised and Most Blocked in the World

In October 2026, 1xBet made the news again — and not because of sports: at least 12 pages featuring the brand’s promo codes and mirror sites were found on the Nigerian Ministry of Health’s website. The company stated that it had no involvement in this. This incident provides a good opportunity to put together a comprehensive profile of the brand: where it came from, what its brand recognition is based on, which registries and blacklists it appears on — and what this means for affiliates.

Key Takeaways

• The brand grew out of a Bryansk-based bookmaking business in 2007, and since 2014 the website has been blocked in Russia; the company itself says the brand never held a Russian license. Today, 1xBet describes itself as a global brand headquartered in Cyprus, operating under a Curaçao license and maintaining separate legal entities in Ireland and Liberia (in Brazil, the authorization ran until October 25, 2026);
• Brand recognition was secured through sports partnerships: Serie A (2018), CAF (2019), Barcelona (2019, extended through 2029), PSG (2022, extended in 2025), ESL, PGL (through 2029), BLAST, and tennis. Josimar estimated the contract with CAF at nearly €60 million over ten years;
• The brand has faced blocking, fines, or criminal cases in five jurisdictions: Russia (blocked since 2014, criminal case since 2019), the United Kingdom (white-label shutdown, FSB Technology fine, 2019–2020), the Netherlands (KSA fine, 2019), Ukraine (2022–2023), and India (2025–2026). The founders have not been convicted anywhere; the company denies any connection to the Russian case. For affiliates, this means one thing: each geographic region is checked separately against the registry.

Origin: Bryansk, Curaçao, Cyprus

The brand’s story begins in Bryansk. According to a Meduza timeline compiled from Kommersant and Investigative Committee materials, Roman Semekhin opened his first betting shop under the Fonbet franchise in 2007 and went into his own business in 2012. The licensed legal entity under which the 1xBet shops operated was Bookmaker Pub LLC. In 2014, the 1xBet website failed mandatory licensing by the Federal Tax Service and was blocked in Russia; the same year, a “legal clone,” 1xStavka, appeared under Bookmaker Pub’s license.

Since then, the international brand has operated separately from the Russian one. The license is from Curaçao — the company itself emphasized in a statement dated January 30, 2023, that “1xBet has encountered no issues concerning its Curaçao license, which remains in place and with which it is fully compliant.” According to the company, its headquarters are in Cyprus, “with thousands of employees.” 1xBet does not publicly disclose who owns the brand. In 2020, Russia’s Investigative Committee named Dmitry Kazorin, Roman Semekhin, and Sergey Karshkov as the founders of 1xBet; and in 2022, according to Vixio, the Ukrainian regulator cited the same three individuals as the owners of 1XCorp N.V. In 2023, the company responded: “1XCorp does not own 1xBet.”

On regulated markets, the brand operates through separate legal entities. In Ireland, the Revenue Commissioners’ register (2026 version) lists remote bookmaker’s licence No. 1019276 held by Terminus Platform Ireland Limited, trade name 1XBET, with an address in Cork. In Brazil, the Ministry of Finance issued DEFY LTDA an authorization (Portaria SPA 1.666) on July 29, 2025, for the brand 1xbet.bet.br, valid until July 29, 2030; it was terminated on October 25, 2026, together with all other licences under MP 1.394/2026 [43]. In Liberia, the brand is represented by the local LiPay Inc.

Timeline: From Franchise to SPA Registry

All amounts are in the source currency. Dates are as listed in the original sources.

Table 1. Timeline of the 1xBet Brand, 2007–2026. Sources: 1–3, 5–9, 11–15, 18–19, 22, 25, 27–35, 40–41, 43

Sponsorship: How a Brand Bought Brand Awareness

1xBet’s strategy for reaching a global audience is typical for an offshore bookmaker: no license in the local market, just a logo next to a soccer ball. The first major deal was with Serie A. The 2017 agreement was suspended following objections from the Italian regulator ADM, from which the brand did not hold a concession. On November 12, 2018, 1xBet nevertheless became the league’s International Presenting Partner for three seasons — the rights applied only outside of Italy and were sold through the ISG agency.

In February 2019, a contract was signed with CAF covering the Africa Cup of Nations, the Champions League, the Confederation Cup, and the Super Cup. The then-CAF president, Ahmad Ahmad, stated in a press release: “For the Confederation, a partnership with one of the key players in online sports betting is obvious.” In 2023, Josimar, citing documents, estimated the deal at “just under 60 million euro” over ten years, while CAF Secretary General Veron Mosengo-Omba told the publication that the partnership “was inherited from the previous administration” and that the Confederation “is currently re-evaluating the situation from a legal, financial and ethical point of view.” Officially, the contract has not been terminated: the brand remained a CAF partner leading up to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The most prominent deal is Barcelona. The five-year agreement signed on July 4, 2019, was renewed on July 1, 2024, for a further five seasons, through June 2029. The club’s vice-president for marketing, Juli Guiu, described the renewal as “the consolidation of a long-term collaboration”, while 1xBet spokesperson Alex Sommers said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with one of the world’s most famous sports brands”. Since July 2022, the brand has been a partner of PSG for three seasons; in September 2025, according to GGRAsia, the agreement was extended for another three seasons.

At the same time — esports and tennis. Since 2021, 1xBet has been the global betting partner of the ESL Pro Tour; in February 2025, it signed an exclusive deal with PGL for CS2 and Dota 2, which was extended on September 14, 2026, through the end of 2029; in 2025, the brand became the betting partner of the BLAST Austin Major. In April 2025, a contract was signed with the Billie Jean King Cup through 2026. Bottom line: according to its own data, the brand is present in more than 150 countries in 69 languages.

Russia and Curaçao: A Case Without a Verdict and Bankruptcy That Did Not Stop the Business

The Bryansk case is the brand’s main legal issue. According to Meduza, in 2019 the Investigative Committee opened a case involving the illegal operation of gambling; investigators believe that between 2014 and 2019, the founders of 1xBet earned more than 63 billion rubles from this activity. In 2020, Kazorin, Semekhin, and Karshkov were named as the founders of 1xBet; assets worth 1.5 billion rubles were attached, and all three were placed on an international wanted list. In a 2020 interview with Forbes, Semekhin said that the figure of 63 billion was “pulled out of thin air.” The only sentence in the case was handed down on October 20, 2021 — to Olesya Mospanova, a manager at “Bookmaker Pub,” who received three years in prison. The founders have not been convicted in any country.

The company’s position has remained unchanged since 2023: “1xBet cannot have lost its license there, because it did not have it in the first place. The action relates to another bookmaking business in Russia, which is neither owned or controlled by 1xBet”. According to 1xBet, the brand’s products are “blocked in Russia and Belarus”. At the same time, on October 21, 2024, Bellingcat counted 1,297 amateur “short football” streams on the 1xBet website over a 24-hour period and linked some of the matches to a children’s football school in Bryansk. The company did not respond to the publication’s requests for comment.

In Curaçao, the SGBOK Foundation, representing players who were not paid their winnings, succeeded in having 1XCorp N.V. declared bankrupt (the initial ruling was issued in 2021, in absentia). On January 20, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands rejected the appeal: for bankruptcy, “it is sufficient that it does not pay one due and payable claim.” Ten days later, 1xBet called the reports a “mixture of fantasy” with no “basis in reality or fact” and stated that 1XCorp does not own the brand. The website was and remains operational.

Europe: UK, Netherlands, Ukraine

1xBet did not hold its own British license. In the UK, the brand operated as a white-label client of FSB Technology. Following a Sunday Times report on betting on children’s sports and cockfights in other jurisdictions, as well as advertising on pirate websites and “Pornhub Casino,” FSB shut down the UK site on August 9, 2019. At the time, 1xBet attributed the violations to “third-party networks or partners” and promised to “immediately” investigate how the advertisements ended up on “prohibited sites.” In May 2020, the UKGC fined FSB £600,000 for inadequate oversight of its partners.

In the Netherlands, on February 26, 2019, the KSA fined 1X Corp N.V. (1xbet.com) and the Cypriot company Exinvest Ltd (xbet-1.com) €400,000 each: the websites were accessible from the Netherlands, had Dutch-language pages, and accepted iDEAL payments. The regulator linked another 83 websites to the same companies.

Ukraine has the shortest “license — revocation — sanctions” cycle. On March 30, 2022, already during the full-scale invasion, the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) issued licenses to TBK LLC for sports betting and online casinos. Following a petition — to which the president responded on August 5 — and reports from the Economic Security Bureau regarding false information in the documents, the licenses were revoked on September 7, 2022. In March 2023, a presidential decree imposed sanctions against companies associated with the brand.

India: From Cricket Broadcasts to ₹37 crore in Attached Assets

The Indian story is the only one where events are unfolding right now. On March 5, 2025, Star India, the broadcaster of the ICC Champions Trophy, filed an FIR in Bangalore regarding illegal broadcasts of matches on 1xBet. In the autumn 2025, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Yuvraj Singh (September 23, for more than seven hours), Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan, and actors Sonu Sood and Urvashi Rautela. In November 2025, assets worth ₹11.14 crore belonging to Suresh Raina and Dhawan were attached, and in December, another ₹7.93 crore was attached from Singh, Uthappa, and the actors.

On March 2, 2026, the ED announced the attachment of ₹18.10 crore in assets from Parthtech Developers LLP — the operator of the CREX cricket platform — where, according to the agency, targeted 1xBet advertisements were placed and paid for through the Swiss company Bwise Media AG. The total value of assets attached in the case is approximately ₹37.23 crore, including other arrests in connection with the case. The ED describes 1xBet as a platform that operated in India without a license, using mirror sites and a “concealed mechanism” for collecting funds via dynamic UPI IDs. On August 6, 2026, the Delhi High Court declined to hear Parthtech’s appeal against the attachment. All of this is part of the investigation phase: there is no indictment or verdict available in public sources. The backdrop to this is the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (signed on August 22, 2025), which prohibits online gambling for money.

Status by Country: Where It’s Licensed, Where It’s Blocked

Table 2. 1xBet’s Status by Jurisdiction as of November 4, 2026. Sources: 1–3, 5–9, 11–14, 25–29, 35, 38, 40–41, 43

The takeaway from the table: the brand holds licenses in several markets (Ireland, Liberia; Curaçao, per the company’s statement; Brazil until October 25, 2026) and at the same time faces blocks, fines, or cases in others (Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, India).

1xPartners: What They Offer Affiliates

As of November 4, 2026, the 1xPartners program offers three models: RevShare, CPA, and hybrid. For RevShare, the official FAQ gives a range of 15–45% depending on geo and number of players; CPA and hybrid terms are “discussed individually with a manager.” The referral rate is 2% of the income of the affiliate you referred. The minimum payout is $30; payouts are weekly, on Tuesdays, and statistics update every 30 minutes. RevShare carries negative carryover. The site claims 500,000 affiliates, 10 million players, 150+ countries, and 69 languages. The figures “RevShare from 50%” and “CPA up to $250” that appear in reviews are not confirmed on the official site.

For affiliates, the key issue isn’t the commission rate, but the market. In licensed markets (Liberia, Ireland), traffic to 1xBet is legal as long as local advertising regulations are followed. In India, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Russia, Brazil, and the UK, promoting the brand poses a risk to the affiliate. In June 2025, Byline Times quoted an unnamed top 1xBet executive who, at a conference in Panama, spoke of 300,000 affiliates; advertising contracts have already become the subject of proceedings in India: the ED case is built on them.

Nigeria, October 2026: Pages on the Ministry of Health’s website

On October 16, 15M checked 12 URLs in the press releases section of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health’s website. All pages were dated October 15, published under the username “admin,” and featured 1xBet apps, promo codes, and mirror sites in Russian, Uzbek, and Azerbaijani — signs of parasitic SEO. As of October 19, the pages remained accessible; the ministry has not publicly explained how they appeared. It is unknown who posted the content: there is no evidence of involvement by 1xBet, its affiliates, or a specific contractor.

The company’s statement, sent to the iGN editorial team on October 16, reads as follows: “1xBet has no connection to the publication of articles mentioning the brand or containing links on the website of the Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria (health.gov.ng). The 1xBet team did not create, publish, or approve these materials; did not initiate their publication; and did not commission third parties to do so. The links in the publications are not official brand resources, and their presence on a third-party website does not indicate any connection to 1xBet, endorsement, or involvement of brand representatives in the publication of the content. 1xBet does not yet know who initiated the posting of the materials. Representatives of 1xBet are interested in clarifying the circumstances surrounding the appearance of the materials and are ready to assist the website administration and authorized agencies in their investigation. 1xBet emphasizes that it is not responsible for publications posted by third parties without the knowledge or consent of the brand’s representatives.”

In a statement to 15M on the same day, the company added that it “did not create these texts, did not instruct third parties to post them, and did not authorize their publication on the government website,” notified the site’s administrators, and requested that the materials be removed.

What This Means

To affiliates. The 1xPartners offer is one of the broadest by geo, but the responsibility for geo is yours. Check not the logo on the shirt but the registry: Revenue in Ireland, NLA in Liberia. In India, advertising contracts have already become grounds for attaching the assets of an ad platform: the ED has reached not only the people in the ads but also the platform that ran them. Parasitic SEO on government domains promoting a brand, even if the brand disavows it, could in theory fall under the same logic, but in the Nigerian case there is no evidence of involvement by the brand or its affiliates.

To operators and providers. 1xBet is known for the scale of its sponsorship deals: about €60 million over ten years with CAF (Josimar’s estimate) and renewals with Barcelona and PSG. But the same story shows the cost of the offshore model: Serie A — only outside Italy; the UK — only through FSB’s white label, and the site was shut down right after the Sunday Times investigation. The brand’s regulated footprint is thin: Ireland, Liberia and, until October 25, 2026, Brazil.

To media and analysts. Only two sources — Russia’s Investigative Committee (2020) and the Ukrainian regulator (2022) — mention the brand’s founders and owners; the company disputes this, and no convictions have been handed down. Any publication about 1xBet must include both the agency’s version and the company’s position.

Methodology

As of November 4, 2026. All amounts are in the source currency; 1 crore = 10 million rupees. Legal wording follows agency documents: “according to the investigation,” “the ED alleges,” “the court declined to hear.” Claims about the founders and owners are given as the position of Russia’s Investigative Committee (2020, via Meduza) and Ukraine’s regulator (2022, via Vixio), together with 1xBet’s denial (January 30, 2023); none of the three has been convicted. Sponsorship amounts come only from the sources named; the CAF contract estimate belongs to Josimar. 1xPartners terms were collected from 1xpartners.com on November 4, 2026. English quotes are given in the original; 1xBet’s statement to iGN is given in full and without edits (translated from the Russian original).

Sources

1. Meduza, “Betting on Bryansk”, October 21, 2021 — 2007, 2012, 2014, 2019 case, RUB 63 billion, RUB 1.5 billion, wanted status, verdict on October 20, 2021, quote from Semekhin (Forbes, 2020). https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/10/21/betting-on-bryansk
2. Curaçao Chronicle, “1xBet denies reports of being declared bankrupt by Dutch Supreme Court”, January 30, 2023 — 1xBet’s statement on Curaçao, 1XCorp, Cyprus and Russia. https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/main/1xbet-denies-reports-of-being-declared-bankrupt-by-dutch-supreme-court
3. Curaçao Chronicle, “Supreme Court upholds bankruptcy judgment largest online sports betting company in Curaçao”, January 20, 2023 — SGBOK, 2021 ruling, appeal to the Supreme Court. https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/main/supreme-court-upholds-bankruptcy-judgment-largest-online-sports-betting-company-in-curacao/