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| Montage showing a few hundred euros being held by someone with their right hand and a soccer player kicking the ball with his left foot |
In the show, "Money" on Euronews Albania, has been examined the scheme of exercising the illegal activity of sports betting in Albania.
But how has the betting scheme worked for 4 years and who are the companies with whom they have created a bond of trust for every dollar gambled? Why have the authorities only given in to the hunt to catch red-handed and punish the people who put up the tags? Let's look at an example. This website invites you to become part of the game, entices you with bonuses of up to 100 euros for initial registration deposits, and familiarizes you with the rules, which are written in Albanian.
Bastebet1.com is just one of the gateways to test your luck in gambling. Within it, today there are 696 companies listed with which a contract can be concluded through personal data and bank account. 11 of them enter into direct relations with the players from Albania. But where do these companies operate and who are the shareholders who own them? The provider 1xcorp N.V., known as 1XBET, turns over 1.8 billion euros every year and has expanded its activity to 134 countries, including Albania. The brand was registered in 2007 in Cyprus, by 3 Russian businessmen, Sergey Karshkov, Roman Semiokhin and Dmitry Kazorin, who very quickly came into the eye of the investigators for evasion, and today they are facing a series of accusations in court. However, the company continues to operate for 1 year, from Curaçao, an island state located in the Caribbean Sea.
Even the 22BET brand, part of the TechSolutions Group N.V. based in Willemstad, Curaçao, offers conditions and rules similar to shareholders that are completely unknown to Albanian citizens, but that they receive millions of euros from Albanian bettors, and do not give anything back, except for the money earned by the individual on the table.
"This money is leaving Albania. Anonymous people are taking this money. Bring them to the surface so that we can look at the deputies who play, and the ministers who play, and the people who play with large sums and tell them where they find this money", declares the president of KOKSH, Fidel Ylli.
Until 2018, men of all ages, including minors under the age of 18 and the elderly, used to set up tables and stay for hours at betting places. There were those who placed orders for large amounts, and who did not appear in these salons, but after the ban, the activity changed radically.