Online gambling addiction is out of control and 1xBet is proof of this.

I started betting online when I was about 20 years old. I was in college but also working part-time so I had everything I needed to play. Bwin sponsored Real Madrid and that’s how I started playing at online casinos. My experience was terrible because betting is a complex game in which the main asset to at least not lose money is discipline, and developing it usually costs money. “Rich Casinos” are an exception, with their numbers increasing by 1% thanks to social media. While I still love sports betting and even recommend online casinos to take advantage of their live sports coverage, I firmly believe that gambling addiction is out of controlThis is largely due to the very wide selection of online bets, and 1xBet is proof of this.

I live in Mexico where 1xBet is available. At first glance, this is a sports casino with a huge offer, but if you look beyond the top-notch sports competitions, you will find a full-fledged casino with all sorts of slot machines, live lotteries and even scratch cards. Lottery tickets can be purchased at some self-service stores. But in some countries, 1xBet runs some pretty shady bets, so much so that it has been banned in countries like the US or UK (one of the most recurring queries on 1xBet is whether you can visit it using a VPN, this level of gaming addiction). Among these questionable bets is foosball, where literally two guys, often underage, sit face to face just five feet apart with a small ball that they try to push between their opponent’s legs. It hurts, and this practice is repeated in other sports. Did you play football with your neighbor classmates? Well, imagine 1xBet betting on these games.

The problem is that these bets, the source of which borders on illegality due to the use of minors in the labor force for betting purposes, not only finance top-notch sports institutions, but also attract thousands of users around the world, some of whom are likely minors. Found a sewer Josimara Norwegian sports journalism and football magazine, and an anti-corruption activist group. bellingcat. Here’s how they summarize their findings: “1xBet, the official betting sponsor of FC Barcelona, ​​PSG, Serie A and CAF, organizes and places bets on hundreds of thousands of games a year involving fake teams and 14-year-olds. the boys are participating.”

The 1xBet company was founded by Russians Dmitry Kazorin, Roman Semiokhin and Sergey Karshkov. All of them have arrest warrants in Russia for crimes related to gambling and organized crime.

Gambling addiction is classified by the World Health Organization as a mental illness. Figures on its prevalence vary from country to country, but maintain a certain alarming uniformity regarding its impact on the young population. In Argentina, for example, according to official data 12.5% ​​of young people aged 15 to 24 (15 years old!) have ever gambled, and among people aged 25 to 34 this figure rises to 15.5%. In Mexico the prevalence is even more alarming: The prevalence of gambling addiction among young people aged 12 to 17 years (12 years!) is 35.3%. Moreover, contexts of economic crisis tend to ideal fuel for combating gambling addiction.

I don’t believe in bans, but online casinos are definitely out of control and no one seems to care. In Mexico, for example, casinos and gambling are prohibited, but a number of legal tricks allow them to operate throughout the country.