Records from the Curaçao Gaming Authority have revealed the identity of the owner of the Premier League's most visible illegal betting sponsor. But is "Ryan Li" really the man behind 8Xbet, or just a front?
By Philippe Auclair, with additional reporting by Jack Kerr, Sam Kunti, Steve Menary and Matthijs van Dam.
8Xbet and its supposed mothership, Curaçao-based company 978 Tech N.V., first came to Josimar's attention when they signed a multi-million partnership deal with serial English champions Manchester City in July 2022. Seemingly out of nowhere, a previously-unknown sportsbook had caught one of the biggest fish in the football pond to become its "Official Betting Partner in Asia". 8Xbet had also secured a legitimate domain name in the UK thanks to the ever-helpful White Label provider TGP Europe, an Isle of Man agency set up by Macau imprisoned felon Alvin Chau.
The statements published on the news wires and the club's website had another unusual feature. They mentioned the name of the "Founder" of 8Xbet, one "Ryan Li". Asian-facing unlicensed operators would normally try every trick in the book to disguise the names of their owners or top executives, even employing models and actors to impersonate them in official and public events. Not this time. Could "Ryan Li" be a real person? Could he actually be the man behind 8Xbet?
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