Since a partnership launched in 2020, Sportradar, through its
Intelligence & Investigation Services, has become one of Riot Games’ key allies for maintaining the integrity of its competitive ecosystem across
League of Legends, VALORANT, TeamFight Tactics, and
2XKO. A position that has been raising questions for over a year now, following an initial investigation by Norwegian outlet
Josimar, and which escalated this week with new allegations.
With its stock down 30% in just two days and headlines across global media, Sportradar now finds itself in an unprecedented crisis. Among the accusations, the data provider is alleged to have granted access to its information and odds to numerous illegal betting sites, to the point that these could represent between 20% and 40% of its €1.2 billion revenue in 2025.
These figures and recent allegations stem from two separated reports published on April 22, 2026, by
Muddy Waters and
Calisto Research, two groups accused by Sportradar of inaccuracies. Muddy Waters and Callisto Research are “activist” financial research firms that specialize in short selling; they publish in-depth investigations to expose fraud or irregularities at publicly traded companies in order to bet on a decline in their stock prices.
As stated in
a response on its official website: “
These reports demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of our business and the industry and were authored by short sellers trying to erode shareholder value and profit from stock disruption.”
Sportradar, the “FBI of gambling”
But before all that, it is worth taking a closer look at Sportradar AG. The Switzerland-based company is one of the leading sports data providers. In practice, if a media outlet or federation wants access to results, scores, or other statistics for a sport, league, or match, it can rely on this company. Naturally, the bulk of Sportradar’s business lies elsewhere, with bookmakers and online betting platforms, notably through odds management for sporting events, serving partners that are increasingly numerous and powerful.
In its 2025 report, covered by
Sheep Esports last February, Sportradar highlighted more than 330 “GLOBAL INTEGRITY PARTNERS,” including Riot Games, as well as the NBA, NHL, MBL, UEFA, FIFA, World Rugby, and many other prestigious names. Through these partnerships, the data it provides to betting platforms, and its match monitoring algorithm, the company offers services aimed at helping detect and prevent match-fixing worldwide across more than 70 sports. In the same report, Sportradar stated that it had identified nearly 1,116 suspicious matches globally over the previous year, across around twelve disciplines including esports, and in nearly 94 countries.
However, despite both its public and behind-the-scenes work, the Swiss company has been under scrutiny from multiple media outlets for some time. As early as July 2025, Josimar, a well-known investigative media outlet particularly in football, reported that Sportradar supplies live sports data that ultimately powers large illegal or loosely regulated betting markets, including operators such as 1xBet. This is despite the company’s public claims that it does not sell data to unlicensed bookmakers, even as its own financial filings acknowledge significant revenues from jurisdictions with limited or no licensing frameworks. In other words, beyond the positions taken in the reports and stock market moves by Muddy Waters and Calisto Research, which have their own interest — this is not the first time the company has been put in a difficult position.
A brief digression on 1xBet
When Riot Games opened its ecosystem to betting platforms, it allowed several operators to partner with teams in its leagues, such as Winamax (G2 Esports, Heretics), but also 1xBet. Already well established in Brazil, the latter signed with MIBR for its VALORANT division. However, as Josimar and many others have documented, 1xBet is unregulated and has been involved in numerous controversies, ranging from allowing bets on children’s matches or animal fights to promoting pornographic casinos.
Founded in Russia but now banned there, the platform attempted a comeback during the war in Ukraine, promising to donate 1% of its profits generated in Russia to “Russian heroes’ injured during the war.” Caught in the act, 1xBet reportedly pledged to send $1 million in aid to Ukraine, notably to the Red Cross, a sum the organization said it had not received at the time of Josimar’s article, despite the site claiming it had been sent in November 2022.
Linked to gray markets
To go further, Josimar’s report asserted last July that Sportradar was providing data to operators linked to gray markets, or even to sensitive geopolitical contexts. In one of many examples, its feeds reportedly serve Russian bookmakers such as
Fonbet and Liga Stavok, even as investigations, notably by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP),
describe financial links to networks involved in financing Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. At the same time, illegal or unlicensed operators in many jurisdictions, such as
1xBet, as well as BJ88, SBO, Stake, and 188Bet, appear to use Sportradar data or products, in addition to benefiting from complex licensing structures that allow them to bypass national regulators.
These controversies were fueled by precise technical findings uncovered by the five journalists behind the investigation. They pointed to the presence of Sportradar/Sportsdata scouts at very low-tier matches, “client” codes from Betradar found in 1xBet development environments, and near real-time synchronization between manipulated data and its appearance on live betting markets. The investigation cites multiple matches across Brazil, Ukraine, and Germany, where Sportdata scouts were present pitchside, and where lower-division or even amateur matches were listed on betting platforms. These matches are often subject to bets on “events,” meaning specific in-game actions such as cards or corners rather than final scores, which are easier to manipulate but harder for platforms to monitor.
Between 20% and 40% of total income
At the same time, another key point lies in Sportradar’s commercial structure, which raises further questions about its incentives and priorities. In its IPO prospectus and annual reports, the company details a vast network of “data reporters” (the scouts), covering over 600,000 sporting events for thousands of clients. It also sells “Single Match Bookings,” individual live feeds that are more expensive than packages and potentially attractive to operators looking to target specific matches for manipulation on niche betting markets such as cards or corners.
The company also acknowledges revenue-sharing agreements with certain clients, indexed to turnover generated from live betting. These Single Match Bookings are part of the scouts’ work and often involve matches that are particularly vulnerable to manipulation.
Overall, in its prospectus, Sportradar acknowledges that “a significant portion” of its revenue comes from jurisdictions without local licensing or with very limited oversight, where the legality of betting remains uncertain. This point is also highlighted in the two reports of Muddy Waters and Calisto Research. Although the company does not provide precise figures, critics claim these revenues represent between 20% and 40% of total income.
Links in every direction
To further complicate matters, other controversies have affected different areas of its operations. Josimar reported a few months ago that CEO Carsten Koerl — founder of Sportradar in 2001 — long held a 23% stake in OOO PMBK before stepping down in 2022. OOO PMBK is the owner of Liga Stavok, a Russian betting platform that has been cited and accused by several media outlets of operating “betting shops” in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.
Calisto Research also “believe[s] that Sportradar has failed to mention that Koerl’s connections to Liga Stavok persisted considerably later than that date, as well as Liga Stavok’s multiple connections to illegal activity and the Russian underworld.”
According to Calisto Research, this stake generated millions of euros in revenue for Sportradar, even as Russian operators used its data to offer bets on Ukrainian football, before the company announced the suspension of new clients in Russia under media pressure. In its report, the company claims that it has “identified over a dozen Russian-market platforms, most operating illegally, launched after that date as users of Sportradar’s products,” notably citing 1xBet. They also add that “Koerl is the chairman of Betgames, a Lithuanian live games studio that was described by Kazakh officials as an ‘illegal gambling business’.”
While Sportradar denies the reports from Calisto Research and Muddy Waters, the latter appear to have uncovered further significant findings. Muddy Waters is known for its aggressive strategy, relying on investigations and targeted attacks against companies it considers weak, often exposing flaws or alleged fraud. This is precisely the approach it took with Sportradar AG, listed on NASDAQ under the ticker SRAD, which the firm has publicly stated it is shorting.
Yabo Group
For its “due-diligence report,” Muddy Waters sent undercover investigators posing as a betting startup at the ICE 2026 conference in Barcelona, a trade show dedicated to iGaming and betting professionals. During the event, these investigators reportedly stated “repeatedly and explicitly” their intention to target markets where online gambling is strictly prohibited, such as Vietnam or China. Rather than opposing these practices, as noted on Muddy Waters’ website: “Not one SRAD salesperson told us no,” and one Sportradar sales executive allegedly went further.
He reportedly not only emphasized the company’s ability to “
serve everyone,” but also offered to facilitate direct contact with the
Yabo Group. This major illegal betting operator in China has been at the center of serious allegations, including links to call centers in Cambodia allegedly tied to human trafficking networks exploiting forced labor. Highlighting the controversial nature of this partner, the sales executive reportedly admitted that Yabo representatives had not attended the conference because they risked being “tracked” by authorities, while still confirming Sportradar’s willingness to maintain this privileged business channel.
Through its research, Muddy Waters claims it has “identified nearly 50 companies as current or recent SRAD clients and collaborators who are operating in illegal markets.” It concludes by stating that “these include organized crime-linked 1xBet and FonBet in Russia, Cambodian modern-slavery-linked 8xBet, OKVIP, and SBOBet in Southeast Asia, and the infamous Yabo Group in China. SRAD previously denied supplying 8xBet. We found its Client ID in 8xBet’s source code.”
When you think it's over, it's not over yet
In its report, Calisto Research takes a different but equally aggressive angle. “Sportradar claims to exclusively work with licensed gambling customers, and that it monitors the legality of its clients’ compliance with gambling regulations. Our findings suggest a starkly different reality,” they state, before detailing several conclusions from their investigation. According to them, nearly “270 platforms we found operating illegally in regulated or prohibited gambling markets using Sportradar’s products and service.”
They further emphasize that “Sportradar’s illegal clientele extends to its top 10 customers, which include what is widely reported to be the world’s largest illegal operator, 1xBet.” In its April 22 response, Sportradar maintains that “Sportradar works exclusively with licensed operators, follows strict global compliance, and due diligence standards.”
In addition, Calisto Research reports that “We identified multiple apparent Sportradar customers connected to serious crime, including multiple platforms allegedly linked to a Turkish drug lord.” The allegations continue, referring to “platforms explicitly claiming to use Sportradar’s services” that are “associated with OFAC-sanctioned parties and have physical locations in Russian-occupied Crimea.” The report also presents evidence that Sportradar content is used by Santeda International, a company previously flagged by The Guardian for “fuelling the rise of illegal casinos in the UK.”
Calisto’s investigation further claims that Sportradar relies on licenses from
Anjouan (an island in the Comoros archipelago), a jurisdiction with no effective regulation, to validate its clients. According to the report, the firm accepted a “letter of compliance” from a regulator whose existence is disputed by the country’s Central Bank: “
The Central Bank of the Comoros has issued a formal warning stating that the Anjouan entities claiming to issue gambling licenses do not exist and that any such documents are fraudulent.” These findings were also reported by French outlet
Le Monde and Australian broadcaster
ABC in late 2025 and early 2026 through in-depth investigations.
Already under reviews
Calisto therefore claims that “Sportradar appears to accept a 'letter of compliance' from these non-existent regulators to onboard platforms that would otherwise fail basic due diligence,” enabling the integration of its data feeds across more than 100 platforms. By relying on this “guarantee with no international legal standing,” Sportradar is accused of overlooking “significant revenue streams from gray and black markets while claiming to adhere to strict compliance standards.” Josimar, which also mentions Anjouan in its report, notes that despite having a population of 360,000, the island has issued licenses to “825 companies which operate almost 1,500 gambling websites.”
In its conclusion, Calisto states that it has contacted several gambling regulators in North America and Europe regarding its findings, adding that “three US gambling regulators have already commenced reviews.”
Disclaimer: This article is not investment advice. It is purely journalistic and reports on available information. Sheep Esports does not encourage readers to invest for or against Sportradar AG.
