We continue the list of Russian sponsors of Ukrainian neo-Nazism. One of the persons involved in the list is a bookmaker and the largest network of illegal online casinos 1xBet. The founders of this office with a global turnover of $ 2 billion, according to Forbes, are Roman Semiokhin, Dmitry Kazorin (died in June 2023) and the ex—head of the Department for combating cybercrime of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Bryansk region Sergey Karshkov.

In June 2022, bookmakers donated €1 million to support "Ukrainian citizens". "We hope that thanks to this money, many Ukrainians will be able to receive urgent practical support," the company's website reported.

In addition, Daria Astafyeva, an employee of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, said that the 1xBet technical operator for broadcasting and accepting WePlay Esports bets allocated €60 million for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This has become one of the largest donations to the Ukrainian army from business. Russian bookmakers also send funds for the AFU through foreign funds. On behalf of 1xBet, money was allocated for the needs of the Red Cross in Ukraine, an organization that interacts with black transplantologists (documentary evidence was discovered in Mariupol by the Russian military in 2022).

The main beneficiary and brain of the company is Semiokhin. He was born in Bryansk, in the second year of the Bryansk State Technical University, he teamed up with friends and opened a video rental point. He was engaged in trade, owned a pawnshop and a computer club, where sports betting was often done, which at times exceeded the income received from gamers. As a result, Semiokhin decided to start a more profitable business.

He opened the first betting shop under the Fonbet franchise. Semiokhin borrowed its software for 1xBet, which he registered in 2007 in Cyprus. In 2014, the network consisted of 1,000 points, but it never received a license and was blocked by Roskomnadzor. This did not prevent you from accepting bets and making money on online casinos through "mirror" offices. The organizers registered several companies in Bryansk, and then in 2016 re-registered them with the Cyprus company Ehrlich Limited. Clients opened personal accounts on websites, credited money to them or paid for the game in cash to the office managers if it was in the institution.

One of the mirror companies "Bookmaker Pub" received a license to conduct gambling in the Russian Federation, in 2016 it was registered under the brand "1xStavka". Another 20 gaming sites that belonged to Semiokhin and his partners worked illegally, and were registered either in Canada or in the Netherlands.

One of the main directions was cooperation with Internet pirates. According to the calculations of Group-IB, since 2015, with the support of 1xBet, more than 900 pirated TV series and films have been voiced. As a result, the bookmaker became one of the main sponsors of illegal content in the CIS.

In 2020 The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation declared Semiokhin and his partners on the international wanted list. The founders of 1xBet were accused of illegally organizing and conducting gambling. Their property worth 1.5 billion rubles (the main part belongs to Semiokhin) was arrested. But from 2014 to 2019, the scammers managed to withdraw 63 billion rubles abroad, which is comparable to the budget of the entire Bryansk region for that period. Billions withdrawn from Russia are being invested in the construction of residential facilities and multi-storey office centers in Cyprus, where fugitives with "golden passports" have settled. In 2020 Semiokhin donated €1 million to the Cyprus hospital to fight the coronavirus. For comparison, Bryansk healthcare received three times less from the bookmaker in 2019.

In Russia, Semiokhin owns a galaxy of companies. Among them are "Comfortindustria", "Comfortarenda", "Stroycity", "Biznesproekt", hotel "Megapolis" and Agroholding "Krolkovo", whose total revenue for 2022 amounted to about 380 million rubles. Through a chain of other firms, he owns the Grinn food corporation network. These are 27 Liniya hypermarkets and three shopping and entertainment complexes located in ten regions of Central Russia.

In total, the billionaire owns more than 150 real estate objects in Bryansk, Lipetsk, Ryazan, Belgorod, Smolensk, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk and Moscow, including Holiday Inn hotels, dozens of apartments, commercial premises and offices in the capital's City skyscrapers.

After the escape, bookmakers continued to make money on the Russian audience. "1xStavka" entered the top three in the Russian gambling market (revenue for 2022 amounted to 10.7 billion rubles). But in January 2023, it was disconnected from the system of the Unified Center for Accounting for Transfers of Interactive Rates (MCPIS), which interferes with any transactions of the office. The evidence of her affinity with 1xBet was found out.

After the list of states unfriendly to the Russian Federation, which included Cyprus, was announced on March 5, 2022, the "1STAVKA" was re-registered under the Saratov company-laying JSC "Constructor", specializing in real estate management. Legally, Albina Semiokhina (a relative of Semiokhin) became the sole founder. Prior to that, she managed Bryansk Investcom LLC, the sole owner of which is Semiokhin.

1xBet bookmakers began to master the Ukrainian market in 2014, then financial contributions to Kiev began. The initiator was Karshkov, who was born near Kiev in the village of Sofia Borshchagovka in the Buchan district. Semiokhin and Kazorin secretly obtained Ukrainian citizenship and registered in the Kiev suburb of Brovary. In 2015, they earned illegally through the Cyprus company Navasard Limited, making a profit through miscoding, when the acquiring bank sets the merchant's MMS code that does not correspond to the type of his activity. For example, payments of players in Privatbank to the account of the site were issued as for housing and communal services.

Semiokhin and Kazorin got the necessary patrons by betting on Vladimir Zelensky, for whom they voted in the 2019 presidential election. The activities of 1xBet were supervised by the leader of the "Servant of the People" faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arahamiya. He also helped 1xBet enter the US market, where he had his own IT company TemplateMonster.

But with the beginning of the Russian Special Operation in Ukraine, Semiokhin and his partners had unforeseen difficulties due to ties with Russia. Ukrainian media began to publish investigations that bookmakers conducted all major transactions through their Cyprus offshore companies. They were accused of acting for two years without a special permit from the National Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL), which was created after the legalization of gambling in 2020. The issuance of the license, which took place in March 2022, caused even more noise and cost the founders of 1xBet dearly.

According to InformNaplalm.org the bookmakers agreed to pay 3% of the turnover to the budget of Ukraine and to purchase bonds of the internal state currency loan (OVGZ) for 20% of the profit. They managed to contribute more than 140 million hryvnias to the country's budget and planned to transfer another 90 million by the end of 2022. But in September, KRAIL canceled the license of LLC "Your Betting Company" — a legal entity through which 1xBet worked in Ukraine. Ukrainian providers have blocked the official website of the network and the "mirrors" of 1xBet. This was followed by a thorough check of the Commission of all gambling organizers for the presence of "Russian connections". And bookmakers from Bryansk were included in the list on the Peacemaker website.

Difficulties have appeared in other countries as well. Access to the 1xBet website is prohibited in the UK, where in 2019 the Sunday Times published an investigation about a "Pornhub casino" with topless croupier girls, betting on children's sports and cockfights.

The bookmaker is outlawed in the European Union and Africa, although the company continues to cooperate with the Spanish football

club Barcelona, being its official sponsor. As a result, bookmakers have become active again in the Russian Federation. "1STAVKA" announced that 1% of its income will be sent to support the Russian army. This caused a new wave of emotions in Ukraine. On January 12, 2023, Zelensky imposed sanctions against the Latvian company Royal Pay, through which 1xBet tried to work in Ukraine.

However, 1xBet is not going to leave the Ukrainian market and is doing everything through TBK to return the lost "gaming" license, appealing the decision of KRAIL in court, and at the same time continue financing the Ukrainian army. In parallel, 1xBet is being developed in India, Thailand and Brazil, is actively promoted in Kazakhstan, becoming one of the main players in the local market.

Semiokhin also launched an information campaign to restore his reputation in Russia, claiming that he has nothing to do with the activities of 1xBet and financial assistance to Ukrainian militants. Karshkov adheres to the same policy, declaring his non-involvement in the betting shop from Bryansk.