Section I: The Bryansk Trinity: Profiles of the Founders
The emergence of 1xBet from the provincial Russian city of Bryansk into a global gambling behemoth cannot be understood without first dissecting the synergistic partnership of its three founders: Sergey Karshkov, Roman Semiokhin, and Dmitry Kazorin. Their combined expertise created a near-perfect structure for launching and protecting a high-risk, high-reward enterprise within the complex landscape of post-Soviet Russia.
This founding team embodied the three pillars required for such a venture to succeed: insider knowledge of state enforcement, access to political capital and influence, and the technical and legal architecture to operate in the shadows. Karshkov, the former cybercrime police major, provided the crucial understanding of state surveillance and an implicit shield (krysha). Semiokhin, the well-connected “Bryansk billionaire,” supplied the capital and high-level political cover. Kazorin, the operational architect, engineered the corporate façade that linked their illegal international operations with a sanitized, legal domestic front.
This alignment was not a matter of chance but a strategic consolidation of skills and connections purpose-built to navigate and exploit the ambiguous lines between business, state power, and criminality.
1.1 Sergey Karshkov: The Poacher-Turned-Gamekeeper-Turned-Poacher
Sergey Karshkov’s biography is central to the paradox of 1xBet. Born in 1980 in the Kyiv region of Ukraine, he later relocated to Bryansk, Russia, where his career path took a turn that would prove foundational to the betting empire’s success.1 Before co-founding 1xBet, Karshkov rose to the rank of Major within Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), where he held the pivotal role of head of the Bryansk regional department for combating cybercrime.4
This position is profoundly significant. His leadership role in Department K, the MVD’s primary division for IT-related crimes, armed him with an intimate, state-level understanding of the methodologies used by Russian law enforcement to investigate, track, and prosecute digital malfeasance.8 Such expertise was invaluable in designing 1xBet’s operational security framework, allowing the nascent company to evade detection and enforcement during its critical early growth phase.
His background exemplifies the phenomenon of krysha (literally “roof”), a form of protection racket or patronage system common in Russia where current or former state agents leverage their positions to shield illicit commercial activities.8 Some sources have even referred to him as a “former Russian intelligence agent”, underscoring his deep connections within the state security apparatus.9
Within the 1xBet triumvirate, Karshkov’s role reportedly focused on marketing and promoting the bookmaker “in different territories,” a task that capitalized on the company’s aggressive global expansion.1 However, his past eventually caught up with him, at least officially. In 2020, Russia’s Investigative Committee placed Karshkov, along with his partners, on an international wanted list for the illegal organization of gambling and money laundering.1
The final chapter of Karshkov’s life is shrouded in mystery. In June 2023, the 42-year-old, described by friends as being as “athletic and healthy… like a bull,” died in a Swiss hospital.1 The official cause of death was an exceptionally rare and “suspicious” allergic reaction to gadolinium, a contrast agent administered for a routine MRI scan, which precipitated a coma and his subsequent death.2 His demise has been contextualized within a broader pattern of dozens of unexpected deaths among prominent Russian oligarchs and officials since 2022, many of whom had complex or adversarial relationship with the Kremlin.6 This context casts a long shadow of doubt over the official narrative of a simple medical mishap.
1.2 Roman Semiokhin: The ‘Bryansk Billionaire’ and His Network of Influence
While Karshkov provided the security expertise, Roman Semiokhin supplied the capital and political insulation. Referred to in local Bryansk media as a “billionaire” and one of the region’s most influential figures, Semiokhin’s rise began modestly.4 In the mid-2000s, he operated a computer club in a Bryansk basement, where he first recognized the lucrative potential of sports betting after observing patrons place wagers that dwarfed the club’s daily income.14 From this observation, he built a business empire that extended into construction and commercial real estate, eventually acquiring a significant portion of the city’s commercial properties.5
Semiokhin’s influence was not merely economic; it was deeply political. The most compelling evidence of his high-level protection is a documented business partnership—a joint venture in rabbit breeding—with the wife of Nikolay Patov. Patov was not only the former mayor of Bryansk but also a deputy in the Bryansk Regional Duma, a construction magnate, and a member of Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party.5 This relationship is a textbook illustration of the fusion of business and political power in regional Russia. Such a partnership provides more than just commercial opportunities; it offers a critical layer of political immunity, essential for an enterprise operating in the legal grey areas, like 1xBet, to flourish without interference from local authorities.
As a key founder, Semiokhin relocated to Cyprus around 2016, a move he later claimed in a Forbes interview was planned long before any legal troubles and was motivated by the desire for a “more comfortable” environment to build an international project.1 Despite being placed on an international wanted list, he lives openly in Limassol, Cyprus, where he has replicated his Bryansk business model by investing heavily in real estate and construction.5
He is currently constructing a 22-story office building for 1xBet’s developers and actively engages in high-profile philanthropy, such as funding the Beon1x music festival and making large donations for COVID-19 and wildfire relief.5 These acts of “social contribution” are likely strategic maneuvers to solidify his standing and curry favor with Cypriot authorities, thereby securing his safe haven.5 To maintain plausible deniability, he and Karshkov have publicly claimed they do not own the 1xBet trademark itself, comparing their business to a franchise system like McDonald’s.5
1.3 Dmitry Kazorin: The Architect of the Legal Façade
Dmitry Kazorin is the third, and perhaps most structurally critical, member of the founding trio. Consistently named in the Russian criminal investigation alongside his partners, Kazorin has maintained a lower public profile, yet his role was essential in engineering the sophisticated corporate structure that allowed the 1xBet empire to function both inside and outside of Russian law.4
His primary contribution was creating and maintaining the crucial link between the internationally-focused, unlicensed 1xBet and its “legal clone,” 1xStavka. Public records confirm that Dmitry Kazorin was the founder of Bookmaker Pub LLC, the corporate entity that holds the official license from the Russian Federal Tax Service (FNS) to operate the 1xStavka betting platform in Russia.18 He was still listed as a co-founder of this entity as late as June 2022.19
This connection is the definitive proof that the company’s dual structure was a deliberate, premeditated strategy orchestrated by the same core group. Kazorin’s role was to be the architect of this legal façade. This arrangement allowed the enterprise to continue generating vast profits from the Russian domestic market through 1xStavka, while the main 1xBet brand and its beneficial owners remained offshore in Cyprus. This kept them beyond the direct reach of Russian tax collectors and regulators, effectively allowing them to have the best of both worlds: legal access to the Russian market and illegal, untaxed profits from the global one.
Section II: Genesis in a Provincial Capital: The Rise of 1xBet
The story of 1xBet’s ascent is inextricably linked to its birthplace. The choice of Bryansk, a provincial capital in southwestern Russia, was not incidental but a strategic decision that provided the ideal conditions for a legally ambiguous enterprise to incubate and scale before launching onto the global stage.
Operating from the periphery offered distinct advantages over major metropolitan centers like Moscow:
- Regional power structures are often more personalized and consolidated, making it easier for a well-connected local figure like Roman Semiokhin to secure a dominant and reliable krysha
- Federal oversight is typically less intense in the regions, allowing nascent ventures to grow to a significant size under the radar before attracting the attention of powerful central security agencies like the Federal Security Service (FSB)
- Geographic proximity to Ukraine and Belarus, coupled with a local pool of IT talent—evidenced by reports that 80% of 1xBet’s Cyprus-based IT staff hail from Bryansk—provided the logistical and human resources necessary for expansion.7
Bryansk was the perfect incubator, offering political protection, operational freedom, and key resources to build a global empire.
2.1 From a Basement Computer Club to a Betting Behemoth
The origins of 1xBet trace back to the mid-2000s in a basement computer club in Bryansk, where Roman Semiokhin and his partners astutely observed the burgeoning, informal market for sports betting.14 Officially founded in 2007, the company immediately pursued an aggressive and multifaceted growth strategy.2 This strategy was built on several key pillars:
- Offering highly competitive odds to attract bettors
- Rapidly localizing its online platform for diverse international markets
- Relying heavily on a franchise and affiliate marketing model that effectively obscured lines of accountability.21
- Engaging in relentless marketing, notably by becoming one of the largest video advertisers on the Russian internet (RuNet) through partnerships with pirated movie streaming websites.4
A pivotal moment came in 2014 when Russia implemented stricter gambling regulations, mandating that all online bookmakers obtain a license from the Federal Tax Service (FNS) and process all payments through a state-controlled hub known as TSUPIS.1 Faced with this choice, 1xBet opted for a dual-track strategy rather than full compliance.
The founders moved the core international brand, 1xBet, offshore, registering it in jurisdictions with notoriously lax oversight, such as Curaçao for licensing and Cyprus for corporate headquarters.6 Simultaneously, they launched 1xStavka as their “legal clone” inside Russia. This new entity, controlled by the same founders via Dmitry Kazorin’s Bookmaker Pub LLC, obtained the necessary FNS license and complied with Russian law, ensuring the group maintained its lucrative access to the domestic market while the flagship brand operated globally, free from Russian regulatory and tax burdens.4
2.2 The Krysha Effect: How Local Power Structures Fostered Growth
The rapid growth of 1xBet in its early years would have been impossible without significant protection, or krysha, from powerful figures within Bryansk’s political and security establishments. Sergey Karshkov’s position as a regional cybercrime chief was not merely a detail of his past but a foundational element of the business model, providing an internal shield against law enforcement and unparalleled insight into state surveillance tactics.4 This was complemented by Roman Semiokhin’s deep-seated political connections, most notably his business ties to the family of Nikolay Patov, the former United Russia mayor of Bryansk.5
This combination of security and political patronage created a protected space in which the company could operate with impunity. The tangible effects of this political cover are starkly illustrated by a 2024 investigation from Bellingcat and Josimar.9 This investigation revealed that 1xBet, despite being officially banned in Russia and its founders being international fugitives, was operating a massive network of live-streamed, likely fictitious, amateur sporting events on Russian soil.
One of the primary venues for these non-stop “short football” games was geolocated to the Alexander Stepin Football School in Bryansk.25 The significance of this location cannot be overstated. The school’s own website proudly advertises its partnerships with Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party and the sanctioned state-owned energy giant Gazprom.25 Photographs posted on the school’s social media profile even show children posing with military equipment and rifles inside the very same arena from which 1xBet’s gambling streams were being broadcast.25
The fact that an internationally wanted and officially “banned” criminal enterprise was able to conduct its operations from a facility directly linked to the ruling political party and a strategic state corporation in its hometown is irrefutable evidence of an ongoing, high-level krysha. It demonstrates that the founders’ political protection in Bryansk remained robust and effective long after they had fled the country and become the subjects of a federal criminal investigation.
Section III: The Unraveling and the Exodus: The Criminal Case and the Cyprus Gambit
The trajectory of 1xBet shifted dramatically when it attracted the attention of federal authorities, moving from a regionally protected enterprise to the target of a major criminal investigation. Yet, the outcome of this state action was paradoxical. Instead of leading to the company’s demise, the criminal case appeared to trigger a strategic evolution.
The founders executed a well-timed exodus to Cyprus, transforming themselves into international entrepreneurs, while the legal threat from their home country was ultimately neutralized through what appears to be a financial settlement with powerful, state-connected interests. The entire episode suggests the criminal case was less a tool of justice and more a mechanism of leverage in a high-stakes negotiation between a rogue enterprise and factions within the Russian state.
3.1 The 63-Billion-Ruble Problem: Anatomy of the Russian State’s Investigation
The criminal case against 1xBet was officially initiated in 2019 by the Bryansk Regional Office of Russia’s Investigative Committee (SKR).4 In August 2020, the SKR publicly named Sergey Karshkov, Roman Semiokhin, and Dmitry Kazorin as the masterminds behind the operation.10 The investigation focused on the period between October 2014 and May 2019, during which the trio was accused of developing and operating the 1xBet platform without a license from the Federal Tax Service.18
The central charge was the illegal organization of gambling, which investigators claimed had generated an illicit income exceeding 63 billion rubles (approximately $886 million at the time), a figure that surpassed the entire annual budget of the Bryansk region.4 A fourth individual, Sergey Krechetov, was also implicated and placed on a wanted list for his alleged role in laundering the proceeds.4
In response, Russian authorities:
- Seized assets within Russia connected to the founders, valued at 1.5 billion rubles.4
- Charged the trio in absentia, placing them on an international wanted list.4
- In October 2021, a local Bryansk manager for Bookmaker Pub, Olesya Mospanova, received a suspended three-year prison sentence—a move widely seen as the prosecution of a low-level employee while the architects of the scheme remained untouched.4
However, the state’s enforcement actions appeared largely symbolic.
3.2 From Bryansk to Limassol: A Strategic Retreat
The founders’ move to Cyprus was a preemptive and strategic masterstroke. They relocated around 2016, several years before the criminal case was formally announced, suggesting they anticipated or were warned of future federal scrutiny.6 Upon their arrival, they acquired Cypriot citizenship, likely through the country’s controversial “golden passport” program, which granted EU citizenship in exchange for substantial investment, thereby creating a formidable barrier to extradition.4
In Cyprus, Karshkov and Semiokhin shed their personas as shadowy operators and rebranded themselves as public figures and legitimate international businessmen. They:
- Granted interviews to major publications like Forbes Russia.5
- Gave reporters tours of their new 22-story office building under construction in Limassol.5
- Cultivated an image as philanthropists through sizable public donations.5
This was a calculated public relations campaign designed to build a new layer of legitimacy and embed themselves within the economic and social fabric of their new host country. Their life in Cyprus was not one of hiding; they continued to run their global empire and expand their business interests into local real estate, demonstrating that the Russian criminal case had virtually no impact on their operational capacity, wealth, or freedom of movement.5
3.3 The End of the Game: The Mysterious Death of Sergey Karshkov
The story of the founding trio took a dark and final turn for Sergey Karshkov in June 2023. He died under highly suspicious circumstances in a top-ranked Swiss hospital.6 The official explanation—a fatal allergic reaction to MRI contrast fluid—has been met with widespread skepticism.1
The context surrounding his death is critical. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at least 39 prominent Russian business and military figures have died in unexpected, violent, or otherwise mysterious ways.13 Many of these individuals, like Karshkov, had intricate and often strained relationships with the Kremlin and its security services.
While no direct evidence of foul play in Karshkov’s death has emerged, the circumstances are too convenient to ignore. As a former MVD major and a co-founder of a massive, state-entangled criminal enterprise, Karshkov possessed secrets that could be damaging to powerful interests in Russia. His death permanently silenced one of the three key figures who knew the complete story of 1xBet’s origins and its relationship with the Russian state.
Section IV: The Hydra’s Heads: 1xBet’s Corporate Structure
The resilience and global reach of the 1xBet empire are products of a deliberately complex and opaque corporate structure. This architecture was designed from the ground up for regulatory arbitrage, tax avoidance, and the obfuscation of ultimate beneficial ownership. The entire system is a masterclass in plausible deniability.
The core brand is licensed in a weak regulatory jurisdiction (Curaçao) and managed through a web of shell companies in another (Cyprus), insulating it from meaningful oversight.6 The company’s heavy reliance on a franchise and affiliate model allows the founders to publicly distance themselves from the illicit activities of their partners, such as advertising on illegal websites or accepting bets on children’s sports.5
The parallel creation of a legally distinct but operationally linked Russian entity, 1xStavka, enables them to profit from a market where their main brand is officially banned.4 This fragmented, multi-layered structure functions like a hydra; when one part of the business is attacked—whether through license revocation in the UK or a bankruptcy declaration in Curaçao—the wider network remains unharmed and operational, making it incredibly difficult for any single jurisdiction to land a fatal blow.
4.1 A Labyrinth of Offshores: Obscuring Ownership and Evading Liability
1xBet is best understood not as a single company but as a “large fragmented structure made up of hundreds of companies around the world”.5 This multi-level system of offshore enterprises was meticulously built over 15 years to separate key functions—such as software development, marketing, and financial processing—and to shield the ultimate owners from legal and financial liability.5
Two jurisdictions are central to this web:
Curaçao: The company’s primary online gambling license (No. 1668/JAZ) is issued by Curaçao eGaming, an authority known for its minimal oversight and lack of transparency.2 The parent corporate entity, 1xCorp N.V., was registered in Curaçao and was eventually declared bankrupt by courts there and in the Netherlands after it refused to pay out millions in legitimate winnings to a group of gamblers. Despite the bankruptcy, the brand continued to operate unabated.18
Cyprus: The operational headquarters and a network of key management companies are located in Limassol, Cyprus.5 Corporate entities such as Klafkaniro Ltd. and Bonnal Ltd. have been named as operators on the 1xBet website, though investigations have found that the physical addresses listed are often little more than mailboxes.18
This corporate obfuscation extends to its finances. Following a series of international scandals, most notably a 2019 Sunday Times investigation that led to the revocation of its UK license, 1xBet encountered difficulties with traditional banking partners.5 In response, the company has increasingly turned to cryptocurrencies and other “financial engineering solutions” to process transactions, further obscuring the flow of money and making it even more difficult for authorities to track its global revenue.5
4.2 A Tale of Two Bookies: The 1xBet and 1xStavka Symbiosis
The cornerstone of the founders’ strategy for the Russian market is the symbiotic relationship between the illegal 1xBet and the legal 1xStavka. This dual-brand approach allows them to navigate the contradictory demands of Russian law and global grey markets.4 1xBet operates internationally as an unlicensed entity in many jurisdictions, aggressively targeting unregulated markets. In contrast, 1xStavka functions as a fully compliant and licensed bookmaker inside Russia, acting as a “legal clone” of its offshore sibling.4
The connection between the two is indisputable. Dmitry Kazorin founded the legal entity for 1xStavka, Bookmaker Pub LLC.18 The branding, logos, website design, and betting offers of the two platforms are remarkably similar, and in some countries, typing the 1xStavka URL automatically redirects to a 1xBet domain.18
The following table deconstructs this strategy of jurisdictional arbitrage:
| Feature | 1xBet | 1xStavka | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal Status | Unlicensed/Banned in Russia | Fully licensed by Russian FNS | Demonstrates deliberate strategy to circumvent Russian law while appearing to comply |
| Primary Jurisdiction | Offshore (Curaçao, Cyprus) | Domestic (Russia) | Separates massive international profits from Russian taxation and regulatory oversight |
| Target Audience | Global (Africa, LatAm, Asia) | Exclusively Russian citizens | Maximizes global market reach by tailoring brand to specific legal environments |
| Account Currency | Multi-currency (EUR, USD, etc.) | Russian Rubles only | Reflects distinct international versus domestic focus of each brand |
| Taxation of Winnings | No tax on winnings for players | 13% tax on winnings (paid by player/bookmaker) | Creates powerful financial incentive for Russian players to use illegal 1xBet mirror sites |
| Product Offering | Sports, Casino, Slots, “Pornhub Casino” | Sports betting only (no casino/slots) | Ensures compliance with stricter Russian laws that limit online gambling to sports betting |
| Corporate Linkage | Founded by Karshkov, Semiokhin, Kazorin | Legal entity (Bookmaker Pub LLC) founded by D. Kazorin | Provides direct, documented proof of common ownership and unified control structure |
Section V: Analysis and Conclusion: The Enduring Paradox of 1xBet
The saga of 1xBet is more than the story of a successful company; it is a quintessential case study of modern, state-entangled Russian transnational crime. Its origins, growth, and continued resilience reveal a sophisticated blueprint for converting regional political protection into a global, semi-criminal enterprise. The company’s trajectory highlights the deeply ambiguous and often symbiotic relationship between illicit capital and state power in contemporary Russia, where the lines between persecution and partnership are fluid and transactional.
5.1 The Bryansk Blueprint: A Model for Post-Soviet Illicit Enterprise
The 1xBet origin story provides a clear and replicable model for illicit enterprise in the post-Soviet space. It is built on the fusion of three critical elements:
- The insider knowledge of state security services (siloviki)
- The capital and influence of politically-connected business figures
- The technical expertise to build a global digital platform
The blueprint involves incubating a business under the protective wing of corrupt or co-opted regional power structures, allowing it to grow to a significant scale while remaining shielded from federal law enforcement. Once the enterprise is large enough, it expands internationally, using a labyrinth of opaque offshore vehicles to obscure ownership and move capital across borders.
This strategy of exploiting regulatory weaknesses, first perfected in their home region of Bryansk, was then applied on a global scale, with an aggressive expansion into the unregulated or “lightly regulated” markets of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.1 This geographic distribution makes the enterprise incredibly resilient, as law enforcement actions in any single country are insufficient to dismantle the global network.
5.2 An Ambiguous Relationship with the State
The central paradox of 1xBet lies in its relationship with the Russian state, which has simultaneously acted as its persecutor and its protector.
On one hand, the state has been a persecutor:
- The Federal Investigative Committee launched a high-profile criminal investigation.4
- Accused the founders of earning 63 billion rubles illegally.4
- Seized domestic assets and issued international arrest warrants.4
- Publicly branded them as fugitives from justice.4
On the other hand, the state has been a protector and partner:
- A key founder, Sergey Karshkov, was a former high-ranking MVD officer.4
- The business was nurtured in Bryansk under the political protection of the ruling United Russia party.5
- The state continues to allow the company’s legal clone, 1xStavka, to operate and generate profits within Russia without interference.5
- The criminal case against the founders themselves reportedly “mysteriously disappeared” after 1xBet signed a massively over-valued sponsorship contract with FC Dynamo, a football club with deep historical and financial ties to Russian security services via VTB Bank.5
- Even after being officially banned, 1xBet’s operations continue on Russian soil from facilities with direct links to the ruling political establishment.25
This is not a simple narrative of criminals versus the state. It is a story of a complex, symbiotic, and at times contentious relationship. The 1xBet case suggests that for certain well-connected enterprises, the Russian state functions less as a regulator and more as a partner or, at times, a racketeer.
Criminal investigations can be weaponized as tools for leverage in turf wars between rival security factions or as a means of financial extraction, rather than as instruments of justice. The 1xBet empire, born from the unique political-economic climate of Bryansk, was permitted to thrive and expand globally, so long as it ultimately respected the unwritten rules of power and payment demanded by its powerful patrons within the Russian state.
This investigation represents a comprehensive analysis of publicly available information regarding 1xBet’s origins and corporate structure. The findings presented here are based on documented evidence from regulatory actions, court proceedings, journalistic investigations, and open-source intelligence reports.