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The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/Moug-10 on 2025-09-20 07:59:47+00:00.
This week, PSG officially announced the extension of its partnership with 1xBet for three more seasons. A brand unknown to the general public, yet one that hides illegal activities. Our journalist Philippe Auclair outlines the multiple offences and criminal activities attributed to the company, which has close ties to the Kremlin. Yet its place in football is growing.
“1XBet is the Wagner Group of gambling. A company said to be close to the Kremlin, founded by former FSB members, which is not afraid to operate illegally, encourage corruption and aggressively target the African market.”
The person who said this is not just anyone. It is Corentin Ségalen of the ANJ, coordinator of the French platform for combating manipulation of sports competitions and president of the Copenhagen Group, one of the most influential voices in Europe when it comes to the opaque world of illegal betting sites.
Let’s not beat around the bush: 1XBet is illegal. This includes France, despite the Russian-Cypriot bookmaker’s constant efforts to circumvent the regulations in place in our country, where it is prohibited. This did not prevent Paris Saint-Germain from extending its partnership contract with 1XBet until 2028 a few days ago, and from publishing a press release whose content will make all those who are fighting against the growing influence of this online betting giant choke.
“Over the coming seasons, 1xBet will retain its status as Official Partner of Paris and its logo will be displayed on LED boards and 3D carpets visible internationally. This partnership also includes the creation of joint content for Paris Saint-Germain’s social media and other digital platforms. In addition, 1xBet will regularly call on legendary players from the French club for its activities, offering unique experiences to supporters and partners.”
You may have noticed the phrase “visible internationally”. Those watching the European champions’ matches in France will have no idea that they have chosen to partner with one of the most controversial players in an industry where competition is fierce. The situation will be quite different in Rabat, Dakar, Mumbai or Mexico City, thanks to technology.
First, a little history. It’s worth telling. In the early 2010s, in Bryansk, Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border, three men named Roman Semiokhin, Dimitri Kazorin and Sergei Karshkov set up their “Bookmakers Pub”, a modest operation that within a few years would become the headquarters of a lucrative online betting business, despite not having applied for (or obtained) a licence from the Russian Federal Tax Service, as required by law. Semiokhine and Kazorine were “businessmen”, while Karshkov was a senior Russian intelligence officer (he rose to the rank of major before fleeing to Cyprus) and the regional head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s anti-cybercrime service.
The success of “Bookmakers Pub”, which became 1XBet, did not escape the attention of the authorities, who discovered that the trio had amassed revenues of around half a billion euros – undeclared to the tax authorities – between 2014 and 2019. But Semiokhin, Kazorin and Karshkov were already far away, in Cyprus, where they had obtained citizenship by purchasing a “golden passport”.
This forced exile marked the true birth of 1XBet, which until then had been mainly active in Russia and Eastern European countries, but whose hyper-aggressive expansion policy would make it a global leader, with a turnover that is unknown but easily exceeds £10 billion, according to the most conservative estimates. 1XBet had made Africa its number one target and achieved its goal by using regional subsidiaries entrusted to African subcontractors, who then pay their dues to the parent company – which pays no tax on its profits.
The recipe? First and foremost, total disregard for local regulations, to the point that 1XBet was, until recently, the shirt sponsor of Raja Casablanca, even though the operator is not only illegal in Morocco but is also the subject of a criminal complaint filed by the authorities. 1XBet is also facing prosecution in India and is blacklisted in all European countries except two, Spain and Ireland.
Furthermore, 1XBet offers much more generous odds than those offered by legal operators, who pay their taxes (which explains this), but this does not mean that 1XBet’s luckier customers always receive what they are owed.
Finally, the recruitment of an army of ambassadors and influencers, most of whom receive a percentage of the losses incurred by bettors who use their “bonus codes”. Among them are Russian porn star Eva Elfie and Cameroonian football legend and current Fécafoot president Samuel Eto’o, despite the statutes of the African Football Confederation (CAF) and FIFA, which prohibit this type of partnership. It is true that CAF has also made 1XBet an official sponsor of its most prestigious competitions, the next of which will be played in Morocco. This is likely to cause a significant headache for the organisers.
And let’s not forget the clubs that pocket millions of euros for being the operator’s “official partner”. In France, OL and LOSC were partners before changing their minds. PSG, however, persisted and signed. We don’t know exactly how much this brings in for the Parisians, but given the expansion of joint promotional activities, PSG’s status as European champions and the rates charged in this area, €15 million per season seems like a minimum. Illegal operators such as 1XBet pay more than their licensed competitors. A kind of reward for crime, if you know what I mean.
Barcelona is another such partner, but Barcelona at least has the excuse that the 1XBet brand has acquired a licence in Spain via a tiny branch in Valencia.
This, when 1XBet is subject to sanctions imposed by President Zelensky himself, as an entity close to the Kremlin. The fugitives and Putin’s regime quickly made up. The operator smoothed things over by becoming a sponsor of the club closest to the FSB, FC Dynamo Moscow, in 2020, and still operates in Russia through its subsidiary Melbet. 1XBet also pledged to donate 1% of bets placed on its other subsidiary, 1XStavka, to the ‘Russian heroes of the special military operation’ in Ukraine.
As revealed by a joint investigation by Bellingcat and Josimar, 1XBet also organises more than 500,000 (yes, you read that right) rigged ‘fake games’ (*) of four, six or eight-a-side indoor football, played 24 hours a day in Russian clubs, in order to feed the range of matches offered to their most addicted customers.
But for Richard Heaselgrave, PSG’s new Chief Revenue Officer, 1XBet is not a bookmaker founded by fugitive criminals, an illegal operator, a vampire preying on African youth or a Kremlin supporter. No, 1XBet is ‘a global brand that shares our ambition for innovation and international growth’.
Well, that’s reassuring.