Sportradar’s share price has fallen almost 25% following the release of a Muddy Waters Research report that accuses the company of aiding and abetting illegal gambling.
The report, which runs with the tagline “Sportradar AG: Putting the BET into Aiding and Abetting,” alleges that as much as 40% of the company’s revenue may come from illegal operators.
Sportradar is the world’s largest sports data and integrity company, but this is just a front for the real business of facilitating illegal gambling, says Muddy Waters.
“SRAD’s CEO likes to call his company the FBI of gambling. The FBI does not offer to introduce informants to human traffickers at trade shows,” says the report.
Undercover Investigation
The allegations stem from an undercover investigation at this year’s ICE 2026 conference in Barcelona. Muddy Waters Research investigators posed as operators of a startup sportsbook seeking to break into Asian markets.
The investigators told Sportradar’s sales team that they wanted to target bettors in Vietnam, China, Thailand, and Indonesia. All four countries have strict anti-gambling laws.
However, black market operators remain prominent and have even attracted celebrity endorsers. Ryan Giggs came under fire recently for posting a promotional message for a platform claiming to be the leading online betting site in Vietnam.
Sportradar claims to monitor the illegal market “very closely,” but Muddy Waters says “this is a lie.” The company’s sales team did not blink when asked to find a way into the illegal markets. Instead, staff said they “serve everyone” and offered to introduce the investigators to the Yabo Group, China’s largest illegal gambling operator.
Report Could Have Damaging Impact
Muddy Waters Research admits to having a short position on Sportradar. It is an investment firm known for publishing investigative reports on publicly traded companies, in which it has usually taken short positions.
The report has already impacted the company’s share price, but could have wider implications. As Muddy Waters noted, Sportradar (SRAD) holds B2B licenses in markets where regulators expect it to uphold Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) standards.
Additionally, it has partnerships with sports leagues that need to believe it is protecting the integrity of matches.
Sportradar said it monitored over 1 million sporting events last year and claimed suspected cases of match-fixing fell. However, Muddy Waters says the appearance of protecting sporting integrity is merely a front for the company to generate revenue from illegal gambling.
“The paradox is structural,” according to the report. “SRAD needs the low-level leagues to generate margin. It needs the integrity program to justify access to those leagues. It needs the illegal operators to boost revenues and help cover costs.“
Cambodia at Center of Illegal Gambling Networks
The allegation that Sportradar is not only aiding illegal gambling but also complicit in human trafficking stems from the illicit activities of criminal groups in Asia.
Muddy Waters claims the Yabo Group’s “Cambodian call centers are staffed by trafficked and enslaved workers.” There has been a crackdown on these businesses in Cambodia and the surrounding regions, with the US and UK sanctioning the alleged criminal networks.
In addition to hosting illegal online gambling businesses, the centers have also been accused of operating scams targeting users around the world. In December last year, a raid on one site also discovered lions allegedly being used to torture casino patrons who did not pay gambling debts.
Recently, Indonesian authorities also said they had dismantled a Cambodia-linked online gambling syndicate.
However, Amnesty International claims that Cambodia’s government is complicit in allowing the illegal gambling networks to continue functioning.
Stake & bet365 Among Companies Implicated in Report
In addition to facilitating illegal gambling operators in restricted Asian markets, Muddy Waters also claims Sportradar is promoting the black market in Russia as well as aiding companies such as Stake to operate in the US despite being unlicensed.
The report also implicates bet365 as running illegal operations in restricted markets. The company is facing a lawsuit in New Zealand over claims it has been targeting customers in the country through offshore licenses held in Gibraltar and Malta.
Several other gambling operators are named in the 123-page document. Regulators around the world may soon be launching their own investigations into Sportradar’s activities.
Sportradar was contacted for comment, but had not responded at the time of writing.
