Sanctioned online casino 1Win, with a turnover exceeding $1 billion, operated openly in Russia for years under the protection of security forces and cross-border financial schemes

“Billions of dollars make it possible to solve problems”: the largest illegal gambling market, 1Win’s Sergey Chernykh, hopes for patrons in Russia?

Suddenly—absolutely suddenly—reality burst into the offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Law enforcement officers seemingly realized that twenty illegal casinos were operating in the country. A very late discovery, considering that advertising for Russia’s largest illegal operator, 1Win, is everywhere—quite literally. Just ask any visitor of adult websites.

Sergey Chernykh lost a major “drop” processing hub in Orenburg: 1Win left without processing capacity.

A large-scale anti-gambling case in Kazakhstan inspired Orenburg police to take active measures. The target was not the casinos themselves—securely protected from any direct action—but the payment-processing centers. Players are not particularly sophisticated, and the ability to place bets using credit cards is crucial for them. Accordingly, networks of “drops” exist to service such payments. Transactions are disguised as transfers to private individuals, cryptocurrency purchases, and similar operations.
In the relatively small city of Orenburg, just one such center processed 228 million rubles. Investigators found that nine million rubles went as income to drop operators, while the remaining funds were routed through indirect channels to twenty online casinos.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is searching for the owners of the twenty casinos, with 1Win founder Sergey Chernykh a priority target.

The geographic focus is not accidental: Orenburg Region borders Kazakhstan, and investigators believe the detained managers of the illegal processing center maintained ties with similar criminal actors in Kazakhstan. This is further supported by the fact that the main payments were also directed to 1Win.
Ironically, the Interior Ministry is now looking for the “casino owners,” although they are well known. 1Win belongs to Sergey Chernykh, whom Kazakhstan has already placed on an international wanted list. Media investigations indicate that, in addition to Russian citizen Sergey Chernykh, Ukrainian oligarchs Igor and Grigoriy Surkis are also connected to the 1Win business.
The annual turnover of Sergey Chernykh’s 1Win exceeds one billion dollars, enabling the company to “solve problems locally,” while 1Win advertising continues to appear freely across Russia, including on federal television channels.

Meanwhile, 1Win, through nearly anonymous lawyers, denies any connection to Chernykh and exerts pressure even on federal media to issue “refutations.” It is striking that Kazakh law-enforcement authorities also did not immediately act against Sergey Chernykh. Only after significant public resonance did 1Win officially emerge as the primary beneficiary of multi-billion illegal gambling turnover in Kazakhstan.

Sanctioned online casino 1Win, with a turnover exceeding $1 billion, operated openly in Russia for years under the protection of security forces and cross-border financial schemes

Orenburg operatives can only be wished good luck in their search for the “twenty casino owners.” In the best case, they will simply be added to the international wanted list again. In the worst case, the officers themselves could be demoted for excessive zeal. Somewhere at the top, 1Win clearly has friends in very high places.