The betting and data company Sportradar has relationships with hundreds of illegal gambling operators including several that appear to operate in Iran and Russian-occupied Crimea, a new report alleges.

A study compiled by the financial analysts Callisto Research claims to have identified more than 270 unlicensed betting companies offering a variety of services including sports betting, virtual gaming and crypto casinos that purport to be products of Sportradar, whose branding and tools are visible on many of their websites. Callisto Research is an activist research firm that has disclosed short selling Sportradar stock after releasing its report.

Sportradar AG is listed on the Nasdaq and its share price dropped as much as 30% following the publication of Callisto’s report on Wednesday, before closing the day 23% down on the start of trading.

Sportradar makes its money from distribution deals that enable it to both service and police the gambling industry. Its integrity arm monitors betting markets on behalf of governing bodies and leagues, including Fifa, Uefa, Major League Baseball and the NBA, and alerts them to any potential match or spot-fixing.

Sportradar has been Fifa’s integrity partner since 2017, since which point it has monitored more than 600,000 matches on the governing body’s behalf, with the contract extended earlier this year until 2031 to cover the next two men’s and women’s World Cups.

Sportradar insists it only works with licensed betting operators, who pay taxes in the territories in which it offers services and offers protections to customers, neither of which is the case on the black market. The majority of unlicensed operators are based in the tiny Caribbean island of Curaçao or Anjouan in the Indian Ocean.

A former Sportradar employee is quoted in the report as saying that deals with unlicensed operators are responsible for around one-third of Sportradar’s revenue, which was €1.2m last year. Separately another short seller, Muddy Waters, also claimed on Wednesday that members of Sportradar’s sales team had told it that it planned to target illegal markets.

Short sellers make money by betting that a company’s stock market value will fall and often produce reports of alleged business failings or wrongdoing in an effort to trigger share price movements that they can trade on.

Sportradar dismissed all of Callisto’s and Muddy Waters’ allegations, which it said were an attempt to disrupt its share price.

Sportradar declined to answer a series of detailed questions from the Guardian, but insisted it works exclusively with licensed operators and uphold the highest ethical standards. “A short report issued today contains factual inaccuracies about the company, and we unequivocally challenge these assertions,” Sportradar said in a statement to the Guardian. “The report demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of our business and the industry and was authored by a short seller trying to erode shareholder value and profit from stock disruption.

“Sportradar works exclusively with licensed operators, follows strict global compliance, and due diligence standards, and we stand by our independently audited financial statements, risk disclosures, and information provided to investors and regulators. We conduct our business with the highest ethical standards consistent with company policies, laws and regulations.”

A Sportradar source added that the company continuously audits sportsbooks for intellectual property infringement and scans the internet so that breaches can be captured and thoroughly investigated. As soon as any contravention to the terms and conditions of its agreements are detected, action is immediately taken.

Callisto’s report alleges that Sportradar and its betting arm, Betradar, has deals with hundreds of illegal operators, some of whom trade in countries sanctioned by the US. Any involvement with unlicensed operators in Iran and Russia would raise questions over whether Sportradar is complying with sanctions imposed by the US, the UK and the European Union.

The report includes screenshots that appear to show Betradar virtual sports games on Berrybet and Betfido, Persian-language betting websites that offer users the option of depositing via Iranian payment providers. Berrybet also offers customers instructions on how to use an Iranian crypto exchange called Nobitex, which has been linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in a US Senate hearing.

Sportradar insists it complies with US sanctions that would prohibit dealing with the Iranian market. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics on its investor relations page says that “any indication” of a connection to Iran should result in a commercial relationship being put “on hold”.

Sportradar announced it was suspending all new investments and client relationships in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, to ensure compliance with international sanctions, but Callisto claims several Russian-market platforms have been launched since that date, which claim to use Sportradar products.

Drexel Casino was launched on the Russian black market last year and claims to operate Nsoft slot games, developed by Sportradar’s wholly owned Bosnian games studio Nsoft. In addition 2xWinner was also launched last year offering Betradar virtual sports games, while Lep Casino was set up in 2024, appearing to offer games developed by Nsoft. The website of Bet-M, a Russian sportsbook launched in 2025 that previously held the name SportradarLLC, also appears to display a Sportradar domain among its sources of information.

Callisto has also uncovered evidence appearing to show Sportradar content being visible across multiple brands operated by Santeda International, a secretive company that, as the Guardian reported earlier this month, is fuelling the rise of illegal casinos in the UK. Santeda’s unlicensed casino products include Rolletto, Velobet, Goldenbet, and Mystake, which show signs of Betradar branding.

The Betradar games are identifiable by use of the company logo as well as distinctive game-specific icons, while Roletto’s apparent use of Sportradar’s widgets to give customers access to sports data is apparent from Roletto’s source code. Sportradar’s website states that operators wishing to use its widgets require Sportradar’s approval of the domain involved.

Callisto’s report states that it has shared information with multiple North American and European gambling regulators including the UK Gambling Commission, three of whom have already started an assessment of its findings regarding Sportradar.