Today on his YouTube channel, renowned British analyst and commentator Richard Lewis released a 45-minute video discussing how Russian betting company 1xBET likely secretly acquired the Danish organization Heroic. There is no official confirmation of this information. However, connections were also found with the Russian organization 9 Pandas. Indeed, 1xBET and 9Pandas have been collaborating for a long time, and the bookmaker's logo has long been present on the team's jersey.
Over the past few months, more and more European organizations have been signing contracts with Russian companies. For example, GamerLegion's collaboration with FONBET. This is despite the fact that Russia initiated a terrorist war against Ukraine in 2022, which continues to this day.
Or take BLAST, which, from the very beginning of the war, banned Russian organizations from appearing in their tournaments. But recently, they sold partnership slots to Team Spirit and Virtus.pro.
But according to harumi, the organization Heroic was not bought by the company 1xBET itself, but by the people who own it. As we mentioned earlier, there has been no official information on this matter, and the staff of the organization remains composed of Danish experts.
Earlier, journalist Corentin Falip, known for his work at L'Equipe, VLRgg, and Dexerto, conducted a study. In it, he revealed that the new leaders of the esports team Heroic have connections with 1xBET.
According to representatives of Heroic, the team is now under the management of Norwegian Krow Bidco AS. This limited liability company is part of the European Union's investment fund. The change of ownership took place in early summer 2023.
Falip points out that the management team of Heroic Krow Bidco AS includes people like Michalis Nokleus, Memnia Papadoupala, and Liudmila Marochkina. According to their LinkedIn profiles, they hold positions in the Cypriot company DC Sport Soft. Interestingly, these same individuals are mentioned in the context of the company 9PANDAS, created by Sergey Karshakov. According to many reports, Karshakov is one of the owners of 1xBET. You can read the full investigation here.
It is also worth considering that up to the present moment, 1xBET has been collaborating with many global esports organizations, which have not received any sanctions for their cooperation with the bookmaker.
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