1xBet, official betting sponsor of FC Barcelona, PSG, Serie A and CAF, is organising and giving odds on hundreds of thousands of games per year involving fake teams and children as young as 14

One of the world’s most controversial bookmakers takes bets on thousands of amateur sports events live-streamed to its website. The locations of the games are a secret. Bellingcat has geolocated sites in three countries where these matches are played. 

In a curtained-off gymnasium six men play football for “Arsenal” and “Real”.

There are no spectators in the unnamed complex and no referee can be seen on the sidelines.

A single camera shoots the game from one end of the pitch, a grainy recording more consistent with security footage than a sports broadcast.

With 32 seconds left on the clock, “Real” scores the winning goal.

No one celebrates.

Off-screen the young men change uniforms. Then they reappear, representing different teams, and do it all over again. The scene is replicated on the other side of the sport hall’s divider curtains. “Barcelona” beats “Man City”, “Chelsea” loses to “Tottenham”.

In the final minutes of a 4:30am match, the goalkeeper for “Amsterdam” walks into an adjacent game to retrieve his stray ball. The schedule is relentless. Players compete in back-to-back football matches that run day and night.

The games have one thing in common: they are all live-streamed to the website of 1xBet, a Cyprus-based bookmaker that is licensed in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao.

The locations of the games streamed to 1xBet are never disclosed by organisers, but Bellingcat has identified sports venues across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus that host these amateur tournaments. This investigation has also found that the gaming operation allowed punters to gamble on a game in which children as young as 14 were competing.
Odds on 1xBet

A controversial name in gambling, 1xBet is blacklisted in several countries but remains one of the largest online casinos in the world, with a reported turnover of billions of dollars.

In 2020 Russian authorities issued an international arrest warrant for its three founders, Dmitry Kazorin, Roman Semiokhin and Sergey Karshkov. Investigators said in 2021 that the company made more than 63 billion rubles (US$655 million) in illegal gambling activities.

1xBet is prohibited from operating in Russia, was suspended in the UK, and has faced a criminal complaint in Morocco. Its parent company, 1XCorp N.V., was declared bankrupt in the Netherlands after failing to pay out on bets, and last year was put on Ukraine’s sanctions list over its ties to Russia.

Premier League clubs Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur severed their deals with the bookmaker after a 2019 investigation by The Sunday Times found that it had accepted bets on cockfighting and promoted a “pornhub” casino.

But despite its numerous controversies, 1xBet has maintained partnerships with other professional clubs. It remains a sponsor of Paris Saint-Germain FC and earlier this year renewed its deal with FC Barcelona, making it the club’s official betting partner until 2029.

We asked both teams about their partnerships with 1xBet. FC Barcelona declined to comment. Paris Saint-Germain FC did not respond to questions.

Far away from the splendour of Camp Nou and Parc des Princes, visitors to 1xBet’s website can punt on a continuous stream of non-professional football matches. One of the most prominent sports on offer is “short football”. Similar to futsal, it involves two, three, four and five-a-side amateur teams playing 10 or 12 minute games on small pitches.

Critics have described amateur bookmaker leagues as a scourge on sport. Viktor Kravchenko, a Russian football blogger, said in a 2021 Instagram post that young footballers were recruited to play in shifts and claimed games were fixed.

Josimar has published an account from a young man who said he was paid in cash to work from 9am to 2pm playing football that was live-streamed to 1xBet.

A Bellingcat analysis of 1xBet’s website found that 1,297 games of short football were live-streamed during a 24 hour period in September. By comparison the Bundesliga, Premier League and La Liga play a combined 1,066 league games per season. Should these figures be indicative of 1xBet’s daily output, the number of amateur football matches broadcast to the gambling site each year would be almost half a million.  

And the model has been replicated on an industrial scale. 1xBet streams videos from various locations hosting other non-professional tournaments ranging from basketball, volleyball and floorball to ice hockey, tennis, table tennis. Games are played in marquee warehouses and converted arenas that look like sets from the television series Squid Game.

A bench soccer match filmed from overhead shows rivals kicking a ball around small mesh cages. In these clips below, the player with the tattoo on his left forearm and wearing grey shoes represents multiple teams, often in back-to-back games.

Subsoccer, a Finnish company that produces bench football products, said it did not make or supply the equipment in the 1xBet streams and that the use of its trademark and logo in this context was a violation. “The content you sent is not related to us in any way,” a Subsoccer spokesperson said. “We have not granted any rights to them regarding our products, trademarks, or other brand elements. The games shown in the images are illegal copies of our patented product and infringe on the patent granted to us.”

The online bookmaker takes bets on all these events – as well as eSports, casino, world politics and the weather – 24 hours a day. The estimated number of visits to 1xBet averages more than five million a month, according to SimilarWeb, a data firm that tracks web traffic. But 1xBet’s global footprint is far larger. Its mirror websites that are accessible in other jurisdictions record millions more visits.

The videos streamed to 1xBet are facilitated by third party companies. On its website, one Cyprus-registered firm boasts that it provides 15,000 live amateur events a month – which it credits to increasing engagement with “compulsive bettors”. Another company says it offers live-streams from “anywhere in the world”, including the “school playground”. A third firm assures its bookmaker clients of the security measures it takes, saying players are “regularly” polygraph tested to ensure games are not fixed.

Bellingcat requested an interview with 1xBet but did not receive a response. Multiple calls and questions sent by email were not returned. We also asked the bookmaker why the profile picture for its spokesman, “Alex Sommers”, was that of a CNN journalist, but did not receive a reply (CNN provided the original headshot to Bellingcat and said neither the company nor its reporter had been aware that the photograph was being used in this way).

Bellingcat examined hundreds of videos broadcast to 1xBet. We looked for visual clues to help identify players, leagues and venues. The matches typically feature obscure or unknown teams, which are sometimes named after prestigious clubs or national squads. Some leagues in which these teams play have their own websites containing player profiles, whose names were cross-checked on social media to help narrow down the search to specific countries. To pinpoint the facilities, we looked for distinctive architectural features, banners and signs in the sports arenas. We used reverse image searches and user-generated content to verify the locations.

Cutaways in videos of multiple short football games provide a clear view of signs and logos that made it possible to trace this venue to a children’s football school in the Russian city of Bryansk.

In promotional videos played before the football games start, a Russian language advertisement for Ikea delivery is visible from two different angles, hinting at the venue’s potential location.

Using a still from one of these promo videos, a reverse image search on Yandex returned a number of results, including a webpage reporting the outcome of a children’s football match. The webpage, on a site belonging to the Alexander Stepin Football School in Bryansk, included four photographs of young children in a sports arena. Key features in the images (the roller door, windows, scoreboard, pitch markings and branding) confirm that the location is the same.

According to its website, the school is partnered with President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party United Russia and the country’s widely sanctioned energy supplier, Gazprom. 1xBet is the subject of a blanket ban in Russia following a criminal investigation into its three founders.

In some of the photos featured on the Alexander Stepin Football School’s VK profile, children are shown perusing militaria and posing with rifles in the same arena the 1xBet games are streamed from.

Sometimes the worlds of junior football and online gambling collide, as seen during this impromptu pitch invasion by a young child. This footage was captured during a live-stream to 1xBet’s website, minutes after a football game finished on a Wednesday afternoon in September.

The children’s football school also hosts outdoor games streamed to 1xBet, which take place on two adjacent fenced-off pitches to the west of the venue. We identified the first pitch, seen below, by translating the large sign on the red wall and comparing the image to posts on the football school’s VK profile.

Almost 1,700 km from Bryansk, families sit on the sidelines of a floorball game on Russia’s northwest coast, watching as Typhoon faces off against SPB United in the women’s league. A banner at the event and the logo in the corner of the video confirm the match is taking place under the auspices of the National Floorball Federation of Russia. A commentator calls the game, which is also being live-streamed to 1xBet.

We confirmed that this game took place at the Physical Culture and Recreation Complex Zvezdochka in Severodvinsk through a local news report about the venue’s opening, an accompanying video and social media posts.  

The National Floorball Federation of Russia’s website displays player profiles, which show that the average age of girls on one of the teams was just under 16. A cross-check of the names and jersey numbers visible in the live-stream revealed that girls aged 14 and 15 were competing in this game. It is unclear whether the children or their parents were aware the match was being broadcast to a gambling website.

In 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal in the World Cup against Iran in the purpose-built Mordovia Arena, a 40,000 seat stadium in the Russian city of Saransk. Russia was banned from participating in the competition in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine, but football is still played regularly at the nearby Mordovia Sports Complex.

Here, teams with names such as “Audit” and “Policy” compete in the Student League, five-a-side football matches live-streamed to 1xBet. While the league has a website, there is no information about the venue where the games are held. Bellingcat located this venue by searching through Yandex images of sports complexes in Saransk.

Photographs posted to the Mordovia Sports Complex VK profile confirm the location of the venue, which is also used for weapons training workshops and tactical medicine classes.

The multipurpose complex also hosts the IPBL Space Division, a basketball league similarly played in empty arenas and broadcast live to 1xBet.

Basketball is also streamed from an unexpected location: Ukraine. 1xBet was banned from operating in Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The Svoi Arena is located in Kyiv, a kilometre from where a kindergarten caught fire after being struck by a Russian Shahed drone attack in November 2023. Despite the ongoing war, basketball in Ukraine was streamed to gamblers on the Russian-founded betting site as recently as last month.

The Svoi Arena said it was “not aware of cooperation with 1xBet” and did not respond to further questions.

1xBet’s gaming operation is blocked in Belarus but the site continues to live-stream games from the former Soviet nation. In Minsk, the Daily Aqua Tour pits tennis players against each other under the canopy of the Avante Club. Images posted to social media show the same venue that appears in the 1xBet streams.

In the Belarusian city of Mogilev, 80 km from the Russian border, basketballers playing in the Belarus Sky League take to the court. The expansive arena at the Mogilev Regional Olympic Reserve Centre can hold up to 1,500 spectators, but no one was in the stands when the “Cheetahs” took on the “Piranhas” last month.

This arena hosts a catalogue of sporting events but its website makes no mention of the Belarus Sky League. We confirmed its location through reverse image searches and social media posts.

Yield Sec, a firm that monitors online gambling and streaming marketplaces, said 1xBet’s “love affair” with live-streaming increased during the pandemic, when major sporting events were cancelled. But chief executive Ismail Vali said the company’s analytics show the volume of betting and revenue generated from 1xBet’s amateur sports streams is minimal.

The objective, Vali said, was to “engage, motivate, and migrate” audiences using “any content available, particularly content that can grab attention and engagement from social and chat posts”. Once on the platform, he said the aim is to cross-sell punters to higher-value gambling products, such as big-ticket live sport events, slots and casino games.

“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,” Vali said.

“The big play here 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.”

Vali said 1xBet uses “mirrors and redirects” to facilitate the availability of its online gambling platforms in countries where its main URL or app has been blocked or is unlicensed, and drives much of its traffic from illegal streaming. Pirated movies, television shows and live sporting events have become a “massive recruitment route” for the bookmaker, he said.

“We look at illegal streaming every day for different companies and we find that 1xBet is the leading advertiser upon illegally sponsored streamed content – content that is effectively stolen from the rights owners and offered ‘for free’ to the audience. Tyson Fury fights, for example, the latest Hollywood movies, or TV shows like Bridgerton, they’ll often have the 1xBet logo and URL embedded in them throughout the stream.”

1xBet is the largest of dozens of what Vali described as “international legacy illegal gambling operators”. He said: “1xBet is the most penetrated brand, the most available brand, the most talked about brand on the internet in gambling. Their scale is in the tens of billions in terms of revenues.”

He added that these gambling operators had become “masters at manipulating audience behaviour” and that their strategies revolved around profitability, with no regard for consumer safety, regulation or taxation. “When crime makes money it doesn’t invest it in 401(k)’s or pensions, it doesn’t invest it in the community,” he said. “Crime just invests in more crime.”

A Yield Sec report published earlier this month recorded an unprecedented trend whereby “illegal operators” voluntarily restricted their gambling operations in various jurisdictions immediately after the UEFA European Championships and the Copa America. The company said there was only one reason to explain this: the first round of licence applications to legally operate online gaming and betting in Brazil closed a month later.

The report said these operators – in the hope of presenting “the best possible licence application face to the Brazilian authorities” – were denying themselves illegal revenue from multiple marketplaces, mostly in Europe.

“Their departure, whether temporary or permanent … will achieve one immediate outcome in Europe: the rise of dozens, if not hundreds, of new, upstart illegal operators entering and looking to fill the vacuum that has clearly been created by the departure of leading illegal operators. Brazil’s benefit could become Europe’s headache – for now, there is clearly blood in the water across Europe’s online gambling marketplaces.”

Come on Russia! Paddy Power hits £80,000 for LGBT+ charities

Paddy Power is revelling in its World Cup 2018 charitable campaign ‘Rainbow Russians’, having racked up £80,000 in donations for LGBT and equality/inclusivity causes.

In partnership with Attitude Magazine’s ‘Foundation’, Paddy Power launched Rainbow Russians’ at the start of Russia 2018, detailing that the bookmaker would challenge LGBT+ prejudices and homophobia in football.

The charitable campaign sees Paddy Power ‘Put-in’ £10,000 to Attitude Magazine’s Foundation for every goal Russia scores during its World Cup 2018 campaign.

Following Russia’s 3-1 win over Egypt on Tuesday night, Paddy Power has raised £80,000 in donations, as an unfancied Sbornaya has delivered for the bookmaker.

Commenting on the campaign, Amy Jones Paddy Power’s PR & UK Mischief Maker detailed; “Following the host’s first game against Saudi Arabia – where they netted five – it was announced that £10,000 of the money will fund 20 members of the LGBT+ community to become fully qualified referees.”

So, thank you to Denis Cheryshev (who has topped up the fund by £30,000 himself so far), Artem Dzyuba and Ahmed Fathi’s own goal last night for their contributions to the campaign…Just keep on scoring lads!”

Russia wants to outlaw Bitcoin and make their own digital currency

Paul Livadniy, deputy director of the Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s federal anti-money laundering agency, said that Russia was moving ahead with a plan to create a government-sponsored and monitored digital currency.

In essence the government in Russia want to outlaw Bitcoin and make their own digital currency, which is not very popular with any of the digital companies and individuals that use Bitcoin. The main problem with the Russian Bitcoin would be that before you deal in them you would have to register with the government, so they can follow and see exactly what trades and deals you are doing, along with of course possibly using them for online gambling.

Only a handful of countries, including Bangladesh and Bolivia, have banned its citizens from using bitcoin. Were it to pass such a law, Russia would create by far the largest population legally prohibited from the technology. It’s far from clear, however, how the Russian government could expect to enforce such a law.

There have been other countries that have attempted to create their own digital currency but none have been successful and Bitcoin still rules the digital world.

Russian bookmakers slam government’s proposal to tax bettors’ winnings

Russia‘s bookmakers are protesting their government’s proposal to tax sports bettors’ winnings.

Russia is in the process of regulating its online sports betting market and its most recent draft decree was published in May. The Ministry of Finance’s latest proposal calls for bettors to be exempt from a 13% betting tax provided their winnings total less than RUB 4k (US $74).

But Russian bookmakers point out that the tax would apply if a player’s winnings top RUB 4k at any point during an as yet undetermined period of time – believed to be a calendar year – regardless of whether a player’s overall betting activity results in a net loss during this period.

Oleg Zhuravsky, president of the First Self-Regulatory Organization of Russian Bookmakers, told Bookmakersrating.ru that both bookies and bettors were opposed to the tax plan. Zhuravsky called the proposal “a complete misunderstanding” of the betting process that would only encourage bettors to seek out internationally licensed betting sites.

Konstantin Makarov, CEO of Russian lottery operator Bingo Boom and president of the rival Russian Bookmakers Association, warned that the proposal could result in bettors unintentionally opening themselves up to charges of tax evasion.

Makarov laid out a scenario in which a bettor had accounts with multiple betting operators, and his individual winnings at any one site might fly under the RUB 4k threshold while his overall winnings might exceed this amount. Similarly, bettors actively seeking to avoid taxation could intentionally break up large bets across multiple bookies.

Makarov also warned that, with one in 10 Russian adults enjoying sports and tote betting, both bookmakers and the Federal Tax Service would require significant boosts in manpower to track the individual wagering to ensure compliance with the proposed regime.

Public comment on the current betting regulatory proposal will remain open until August 8.

Russian Online Poker To Be A Victim Of Ukraine Conflict?

In June 2009, the Russian Federation ordered the Sports Ministry to remove poker from its national sports registry, and since then the government has intermittently ordered Internet Service Providers to block online gambling websites from the country. Recently, however, Russian authorities signaled a U-turn in its negative approach towards iGaming after it requested the Russian Ministries of Finance, Economics and Justice to prepare a report on possible legalization, but now the prospects for online poker regulation appears to have dimmed once more following the heightened tensions between Russia and The West following the Ukraine Crisis which began on 21 February 2014.

Russian online poker a $150m industry

Russia is a country heavily reliant on the revenues generated from its energy sector, and in 2012 oil and gas accounted for 16% of the country’s GDP, around half its federal budget, and 70% of total exports. Therefore, its not difficult to see how online poker regulation could significantly impact the country’s economic outlook, especially with the industry predicted to generate up to 3 billion roubles ($87 million) in its first year of operation, rising to 5 billion roubles ($146 million) by year four.

With proposed amendments to the law suggesting a competitive taxation regime of 20% on a company’s gross gaming revenues and 13% on withdrawals made by poker players from their accounts, the government could stand to collect more than half a billion dollars in tax revenues over the next five years. Interestingly, chief researcher at the Centre for Tax Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, Vladimir Bauer, has indicated online poker would likely be categorized as an “intellectual and commercial game” so that it could be taxed as an electronic service.

Online poker legalization essential

Last month, a government ministries meeting concluded legalization of Russia’s online poker market was essential, with all arguments related to security and public safety subsequently dismissed. It was then decided the country’s interests could best be served by opening the industry to Western iGaming operators, and introducing a system whereby operators were required to store their customers’ personal data on servers hosted within Russia.

The country currently restricts all its gambling activities to five established gambling zones where casinos are permitted, but legislators even seemed positive towards allowing online poker to be offered outside of these far flung corners of the federation.

Online poker a victim of geopolitics?

While the Ukraine Crisis has been raging since February, recently the conflict involving Russia and The West has heightened following the introduction of a wave of sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses designed to impose a high cost on Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Given the current climate with The West, which threatens to draw a cold war era type “iron curtain” across Europe, it has become increasingly unlikely the Russian parliament will react positively to any new bill which would give Western businesses access to Russian online poker players. A more likely scenario may now involve legislators restricting online licenses to just existing domestic casino operators already operating inside Russia.

No real alternative to Western poker rooms

Although sending a strong message out to its political opponents, the move to exclude Western operators from Russia could ultimately be self-defeating in the absence of any real home grown competitor. Outside of the country, ex-Soviet Republic, Georgia, may represent the best option to bring online poker to Russia, with its poker site Adjarabet currently ranked on PokerScout‘s ‘Online Poker Traffic Report’ in 10th place with 1,000 cash game players over a seven-day-period, and Europe-Bet in 22nd place with 350 players.

Just like Ukraine, however, Russia has extremely hostile relations with Georgia and in 2008 it invaded South Ossetia in the north of the country, and has continued to occupy the region ever since. Creating “frozen conflicts” is widely seen as a tactic Russia employs in order to destabilize former USSR neighbors and keep them in its orbit of influence. Therefore, it’s anyone’s guess how long the stand-off between the West and Russia will last, and at which point a regulated online poker market may see the light of day in Russia.

Sochi to host Russian Gaming Week; Russia busts 72,000 illegal gambling dens in five years

Russian resort town of Sochi, home to the Winter Olympic Games 2014, would be hosting the Russian Gaming Week in November.

Sochi to host Russian Gaming Week; Russia busts 72,000 illegal gambling dens in five yearsThe decision to tab Sochi as the host of this year’s conference was to showcase the resort town to industry leaders after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law in July officially designating Crimea and Sochi as new gambling zones.

The Sochi gambling zone is within the boundaries of the Olympic facilities with the hopes of turning the Russian Black Sea resort town into a popular tourist destination.

Next month’s RGW Sochi Expo will feature discussions regarding the town’s capacity to become a successful gambling zone, including debates on the possibility of foreign casino operators coming to Sochi and the level of competition these Russian gambling zones could have on each other.

Other designated gambling zones have attracted foreign investors, particularly Vladivostok, which has signed off on casino projects from Melco Crown Entertainment and NagaCorp. It remains to be seen whether Sochi will be able to get that kind of attention, although its safe to say that a lot will be learned when the resort town hosts the Russian Gaming Week next month.

Meanwhile, if there was ever any doubt about Russia’s rather overzealous approach in implementing its ban on illegal gambling houses, the number of illegal gambling houses it has busted in the past five years will squash those doubts away.

A report from Russian news agency TASS quoted the prosecutor general’s office saying that since the country enacted “Federal Law No 244” in July 1, 2009 banning casinos outside four gambling zones, authorities have done checks on over 108,000 facilities throughout the country. Of those checks, 72,000 illegal gambling houses and 822 underground casinos have been busted.

Furthermore, law enforcement authorities from Russia have also confiscated close to 1 million units of gambling equipment, on top of the 50 thousand chiefs of these gambling halls, all of whom have been fined a collective amount of $17.2 million.

Putin gives green light for gambling zone in Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law setting up a gambling zone in Crimea, the territory Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.

Four official gambling zones were created in Russia five years ago when the authorities acted to curb betting.

Russian MPs argue that the new law will attract investment and boost visitor numbers in Crimea, with its network of Black Sea holiday resorts.

Western states refuse to recognize Crimea's unification with Russia.

While the annexation, which followed a referendum on self-determination, was virtually bloodless, it encouraged pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to take up arms against the new authorities in Kiev.

There were concerns that Crimea's tourist revenue would fall sharply this summer as a result of the crisis.

Russia has sought to maintain summer visitor numbers with holiday promotions while state companies have been encouraged to treat their workers to holidays on the peninsula. Initiatives include visa-free travel to Crimea for Chinese tourists.

The new law also extends the gambling zone in Russia's southern Krasnodar territory to cover the city of Sochi with its Winter Olympics venues. Casinos are expected to be built near the Olympic Village, Russian media report.

The other three gambling zones were set up in Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the Far East and Siberia's Altai territory.

Betclic Everest withdraw operations from Russia

Senior management at igaming operator Betclic Everest have announced that the operator will withdraw all of its igaming operations from targeting the Russian igaming market.

The decision by the operator, comes days after Betclic announced that it would no longer allow wagering and accept customer subscriptions from Belgium.

Betclic Everest announced its decision following the Russian gaming authorities’ decision to extend its internet ISP blacklist. It is thought that the Russian Government will look to toughen its stance on unlicensed igaming operators, as Russia looks to set a future igaming policy.

Russian ISP blocks have affected a number of igaming operators including Unibet, Pokerstars and Bwin. The blocks have been undertaken by Russian internet watchdog – Roskomnadzor.

Betclic Everest, actions to withdraw from the region have been followed by sports betting exchange Betfair that they would no longer accept customers from the Russian Federation.

Betclic Everest are set to make more statements regarding their decision to withdraw operations from the region.

Russia blocks online gambling firms

Russian authorities have made Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country block online poker websites from offering their services to Russian players.

Although it was back in late 2012 that the Russian government said that ISPs should block online gambling sites it was mainly online casino sites that were blocked and not online poker, now with the latest move many in the online poker industry both players and companies are concerned about the latest developments, with Russian players making up a large portion of the online sectors players.

The Deputy Head Maxim Ksenzov said that the blocking of the online sites has occurred at the request of the prosecutor’s office based on these court decisions in 2012, why they have only just decided to get round to it now is not clear.

Of the big online operators that have now been affected they are Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, PokerStars, Betway and Unibet among many others.

PokerStars released a message to all players that had concerns about the latest blocking by Russia saying that their deposits were safe and can be withdrawn as normal, as well as saying that the company will continue to offer online poker to Russian players along with operating under several licenses issued to PokerStars in various jurisdictions and that they always abide by all relevant laws and regulations.

How if any way PokerStars and the other online operators will overcome the latest attempt by Russia to block their services is unclear at present and will continue to cover this story on any future developments.

Russia plans Vegas in Vladivostok

Russia is planning to build a gambling and entertainment zone near the port city of Vladivostok will lure investors who have spent big money on casinos for Asian gamblers in Macau and Singapore.

It will, however, also face competition from Asian nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines, which are setting up similar tourism and entertainment zones.

Russia’s state-owned Nash Dom Primorye is set to announce at the Global Gaming Expo in Macau on Wednesday that it is seeking private investors and/or companies to build casino resorts in a six square kilometre area near Vladivostok.

Vladivostok is one of four official Russian government zones where casino gambling is legal but is the only one that has formally initiated plans to lure foreign investors.

Known as the Integrated Entertainment Zone, the project has space for roughly five large resorts.

A report from Gaming Market Advisors, which conducts casino market research, estimates the zone could rake in revenues of $2 to $7 billion when completed. By comparison, Singapore’s casino area which is similar in size, took in more than $5 billion in 2011.

Nash Dom Primorye has appointed Las Vegas-based Galaviz & Co as lead strategic adviser for the tender.

The tender will be initiated in June, giving potential international operators 60 days to send in a pitch and budget estimates. The government will then enter into discussions with potential investors by the end of October.

Marina Lomakina, general director of Nash Dom, said in a recent interview she hoped the zone would be fully completed within five years.

“We want companies who are well known and will help create amenities that are more than just casino gaming,” she said, adding that the zone would require a total minimum investment of $2 billion from private investors looking to develop properties.

The master plan includes luxury hotels, a yacht club, shopping malls as well as outdoor sports such as golf. As it stands now, the zone is 2.6 square kilometers, but can be extended to six square kilometers.

The project, which will focus on drawing in Asian money, comes at a time when China’s economy is slowing and Macau’s once turbo-charged monthly growth rate is falling to near single digits.

Russians would also contribute to the total revenue spent in the Vladivostok zone, Lomakina said. Unlike Asian countries such as Vietnam where it is illegal for citizens to gamble, Russians are allowed to gamble in designated local zones.

“We hope most of the customers will be from China, as well as Korea, Japan and the United States. We have very strong ties with these countries and expect to have their interest in the project.”

Vladivostok is two hours by plane from Seoul and Tokyo.

The Russian port city has invested $7 billion over the past five years to develop infrastructure, including a new airport, bridges that resemble San Franscisco’s Golden Gate and a new university ahead of the APEC summit. It is constructing more roads and transport links for the resort zone.

Russia to bring back gambling?

Reports from Russia among gaming insiders is that the Government is considering taking measures to bring back gambling to the major Cities.

It has been some 3 years nearly since the close down on the 1st July 2009, making some estimated 300,000 jobless within the country. Russia’s then prime minister Vladimir Putin proposed the legislation in 2006, when president, in an apparent attempt to wipe out an immoral industry. Despite expectations of a compromise with the casinos, Putin stood firm and closed all the casino operations down within the country.

The plan by the Government to have 4 designated regions, Primore region in Russia’s remote far east; the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad; the Altai region of Siberia; and the Azov Sea in the south. Those regions have hardly seen any development and most gamblers now use illegal operations set up around Moscow.

However from our sources within the country, whom have links to the state parliament, the Duma. Politicians quietly and actively are discussing a revision of the decree that may permit strictly regulated land gambling in the bigger cities, such as St. Petersburg, Sochi, Krasnodar & Moscow.

The corruption from within the law enforcement bureau has been rife towards gambling over recent years and has not stopped the continued rise of illegal dens.

Eastern Russia to get first casino

A Casino & Leisure developer has won permission to build Primorye region’s first legal casino. The First Eastern Gaming Company is finalizing the design for an entertainment complex, which will include the casino.

The region is one of Russia’s four legal gambling zones, which were established by federal law in 2009.

The law that brought about the new scheme was signed in 2006, but many people expected that it would never be enforced. The law limits all gambling to Azov City, the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea, the Altai region of Siberia and the Primorsky region of Russia’s Far East.

The development is close enough to China to have some impact on Macau and even Singapore should the developers be able to impact those markets.

How large, what exact facilities and what are the target client’s is still unknown from “First Eastern” developers, but The iGaming Post will bring you more on this story soon.

UEFA concerned about match-fixing in Russian football

UEFA is worried about match-fixing in the top two tiers of Russian football, local media revealed Wednesday. In a confidential letter sent to the Russian football federation (RFS), European football's ruling body expressed "serious concern" at the results of at least six first and second division matches, the Vremya Novostei newspaper reported.

"We have reason to be suspicious of these matches because of their possible links to illegal betting," the letter reportedly stated.

The games took place between June 13 and August 17 of this year. So far there has been no reaction from the RFS or the clubs but if the fears are substantiated it could have serious repercussions for Russia's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Medvedev puts foot down on gambling

Using uncharacteristically stern language, President Dmitry Medvedev told Federal Tax Service chief Mikhail Mokretsov on Tuesday that he would tolerate no delays in moving all gambling to special regional zones within two months.

"It is imperative that these rules go into effect in due time. There will be no revisions, no pushing back -- despite the lobbying efforts of various businesses," Medvedev said at their meeting at his Gorki residence outside Moscow.

"This is the state's position," he said. "You have to control this process, and the activities of gambling establishments must cease on June 30."

New rules approved in late 2006 require all gambling establishments to move to one of four zones established for the industry by July 1 of this year. Casinos must be closed, and betting will be banned outside the zones, which are located in areas on the Azov Sea, in the Far East and in the Altai and Kaliningrad regions. The legislation was introduced to the State Duma by then-President Vladimir Putin.

The rules have come under fire from casinos and investors in the gambling zones, who have said that the zones don't have the infrastructure to build new casinos in time for the summer deadline.

Casino owners have said they will be forced to transform their establishments into less profitable restaurants, concert halls and even poker clubs to stay open in Moscow, their main market. There are currently 549 gambling establishments in the capital, Deputy Mayor Sergei Baidakov said last month.

The deadline for moving the establishments out of cities was changed once before the rules were signed into law, from the original date of January 2009. Last year, United Russia Deputy Alexander Popov offered to push the deadline to 2012 but later retracted his proposal without explanation.

Medvedev's firm position on the issue Tuesday could indicate a standoff between his word and the powerful gambling lobby, analysts said.

"The business is very influential and has a strong lobby, including in the Duma," said Dmitry Oreshkin, an analyst with the Mercator think tank.

He said it was no secret that the gambling industry pays large taxes and kickbacks, so many bureaucrats are interested in leaving gambling in Moscow. "If the lobby wins in delaying the deadline, it will essentially mean that the state's word means nothing, so it's important for Medvedev, who is trying to show he is a serious politician," he said.

Medvedev pressed Mokretsov over his readiness to deal with gambling businesses. "How ready is the Federal Tax Service to control gambling after the new rules go into effect?" he said, Interfax reported.

Mokretsov reassured the president that the tax agency, which has been given increasingly more control over the gambling industry in the past two years, was ready to "administer the business in the four gambling zones." He noted that the industry has shrunk by 42 percent in the first four months of 2009.

Mokretsov became tax chief in early 2007, replacing Anatoly Serdyukov, who went on to head the Defense Ministry. Prior to his work in the agency, Mokretsov worked for St. Petersburg's city tax department. "He is not a silovik, he is an intellectual," Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in explaining Mokretsov's appointment at the time. "Siloviki" is a term applied to government officials with ties to the security services.