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1xBet is a large, Cyprus-headquartered online sportsbook and casino founded in Russia in 2007. It holds a Curacao gaming licence rather than any South African one, so South African players who use it are doing so outside of local gambling regulation and without local regulatory protection if a dispute arises. Its exact licensing entity has been reported inconsistently across sources over the years, and one of its Curacao subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in 2021 while reportedly continuing to operate. It lost its UK Gambling Commission licence in 2019 after a Sunday Times investigation, and has since been reported as banned or restricted in several other countries, with investigative reporting in 2024 and 2025 alleging links to unlicensed gambling operations and money laundering.
Founded: 2007, founded in Russia by Roman Semiokhin, Dmitry Kazorin and Sergey Karshkov, per Wikipedia (which itself cites press reporting). Karshkov, described as a former Russian intelligence officer, reportedly died in June 2023.
Operating company: Corporate structure is genuinely murky and inconsistently reported across sources, which I treat as itself a notable, documented characteristic of this operator rather than a gap I could simply resolve. Headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. Sources variously name '1X Corp N.V.' or 'Caecus N.V.' as the Curacao-registered licence holder; Wikipedia additionally notes a subsidiary, '1xCorp N.V.', filed for bankruptcy in Curacao in November 2021 and was declared bankrupt in June 2022, while continuing to operate regardless. In Ireland specifically, Wikipedia states it operates via a separately licensed entity, Terminus Platform Ireland Limited (Remote Bookmaker's Licence No. 1019276).
35x the bonus amount, per betseeker.co.za's detailed South Africa specific breakdown; not independently confirmed on 1xbet.com itself.
Status: Claimed (sourced, not independently confirmed). Bonus offers change often and must be confirmed on the operator's own terms page before claiming, last checked 2026-08-25.
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Deposit and withdrawal options for 1xBet are not yet verified. See our South African payment methods guide for how each rail generally works.
A mobile app is available. The site works on mobile browsers. Third-party sources describe both Android and iOS apps as available, with the support/help menu inside the app offering chat, callback, online call and email options. I did not confirm whether the app is distributed via Google Play/App Store or as a direct APK, and could not check this directly on 1xbet.com, which is a global site with no confirmed South Africa-specific version.
24/7 live chat is reported, though it reportedly routes through a chatbot before reaching a live agent. Additional channels mentioned include callback, 'online call', email, and social messaging apps (WhatsApp, IMO).
No licence, regulator name, or licence number found anywhere on 1xbet.com after direct checks of the homepage footer and Terms of Service index; /en/results/license returned HTTP 404. This network's exit IP is also actively blocked at the HTTP level by 1xbet.com's own geo-blocking (confirmed via an embedded block-page JSON showing geoCode/region GB). Unclear whether 1xbet.com is even the correct SA-facing domain for this brand, or whether a South-Africa-specific product/domain exists separately; needs resolving before licence claims can be published either way. 1xBet operates in South Africa without any local licence, in what multiple sources describe as a legal grey area with no local regulatory protection for players. Beyond South Africa specifically, 1xBet lost its UK Gambling Commission licence in 2019 following a Sunday Times investigation, and has separately been reported as banned or restricted in the United States, Russia, France, Spain and India (India banned it in 2023). A 2024 joint investigation by Bellingcat and the Norwegian outlet Josimar alleged 1xBet was organising large numbers of unlicensed 'short football' matches inside Russia, and separate reporting (Follow the Money, Byline Times) has alleged links to money laundering and tax evasion.
Licence number: Reported inconsistently as OGL/2024/1262/0493 or 1668/JAZ depending on source; unresolved.. Offshore licensing authority: Curacao eGaming licence, per multiple sources, though the exact licence number is reported inconsistently: one source cites OGL/2024/1262/0493 (granted 7 November 2024) under '1X Corp N.V.', while another cites 1668/JAZ under 'Caecus N.V.'. No South African gambling licence exists for 1xBet, and no confirmed South Africa-specific domain was found.
