I was looking at Play Store download tiers for betting apps last week because someone in a group chat said 1xBet has more installs than Spotify in Nigeria and I thought no way that is real.
It is real.
1xBet sits at 100 million+ lifetime downloads on Google Play. And a massive chunk of their Android users do not even go through the Play Store because Google blocks real-money gambling apps in half the regions they operate in. Those people download the APK straight from the website. So the 100 million is what the store shows, the actual number is higher, and nobody outside their company knows by how much.
I went through the Play Store pages for every major betting app I could find and wrote down the download tiers. These are public, you can check them yourself by tapping any app listing and scrolling down.
| App | Play Store Downloads | Where It Pulls Heaviest |
|---|---|---|
| 1xBet | 100,000,000+ | Latin America, Africa, Asia |
| Bet365 | 50,000,000+ | UK, Europe, Latin America |
| SportyBet | 50,000,000+ | Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya |
| 1win | 10,000,000+ | Latin America, CIS |
| Melbet | 10,000,000+ | Emerging markets |
| 22Bet | 10,000,000+ | Europe, Africa |
| FanDuel | 10,000,000+ | United States |
| DraftKings | 10,000,000+ | United States |
| BetKing | 10,000,000+ | Nigeria |
| BetMGM | 5,000,000+ | United States |
Sensor Tower’s 2026 report said sports betting downloads globally grew 24% in a single year, Brazil going legal being the biggest reason.
1xBet Started in Russia, Left for Cyprus, Now Targets the Muslim World From There
Founded in 2007. Russian company, yes the Russian, seems like US forgot to sanction them. Moved the headquarters to Limassol, Cyprus. Runs on a Curacao eGaming licence which is the gambling equivalent of a PO box in the Caribbean.
The app is available in 60 languages including Arabic. Sponsors FC Barcelona and PSG. Sports Illustrated called it “probably the biggest sportsbook on the planet.”
Fear from Allah bro. You are targeting ARABS those who have direct prohibiting from the GOD?
60 languages, Arabic interface, heavy marketing across MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa where populations are majority Muslim, and you are running this operation from a Mediterranean island with a Caribbean licence. The Quran says maysir is haram. Your download counter says 100 million. Somebody is not listening to somebody.
And look I am not here to give a fatwa or judge anyone. The numbers are what they are. 1xBet exists because the demand exists and pretending the demand is not there does not make it go away. But the contradiction between what the religion teaches and what the Play Store shows is sitting right there and it is wild that almost nobody talks about it openly.
Bet365 and Denise Coates From Stoke-on-Trent
50 million Play Store downloads. UK Gambling Commission licence, which is the toughest in the world.
The founder is a woman called Denise Coates. Took over her dad’s betting shop in Stoke-on-Trent in 1995 at 28. Got a bank loan. Bought the bet365.com domain. Went online in 2000.
She still owns 50.1% of the company and has been the highest-paid CEO in all of Britain multiple years running. Over £200 million in annual pay some years. Her family bought Stoke City FC. Bought the stadium. Named it bet365 Stadium.
Holy England mate, hail Mary, you call yourself a Christian nation and your highest-paid business leader built her entire fortune from gambling?
The Church of England has been writing concerned letters about the gambling industry for decades and the gambling industry has been sending tax revenue back to the treasury.
Denise Coates is not apologising for any of it. She built a betting shop into a global platform from a town most people outside the Midlands have never visited. 50 million downloads. That is the answer to any theological question about whether the market should exist.
A Chess Grandmaster in Moscow Thought Why Not
Fonbet. Founded 1994,. The founder is Anatoly Machulsky and the man is a Russian chess grandmaster. Yes again the RUSSIA.
I read that and had to read it again.
A chess grandmaster. A person whose entire professional life was calculating probability 15 moves ahead on a 64-square board decided to calculate probability for the rest of us and charge a fee for it. Revenue hit ₽610 billion in 2024. Over 1,000 physical offices across Russia. Now tell me how you people will win at his platform?
Russia is Orthodox Christian. The Church is not a fan of gambling.
Machulsky calculated that the market would function regardless and he was correct. Grandmaster energy in every sense.
Fonbet is not on the global chart because it only operates in Russia and Kazakhstan, but inside those two markets it is the dominant force by a margin that is not close.
Nigeria and the 25% Number
This is the one where I put my phone down for a minute.
25% of all app downloads in Nigeria are betting apps.
Not 25% of entertainment apps. Not 25% of sports apps. 25% of everything. One in four apps downloaded in the country is for placing bets. SportyBet and BetKing between them sit at 60 million Play Store installs combined.
Nigeria’s population splits roughly between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. Both faiths have clear positions on gambling. The Play Store does not seem to be aware of either position.
SportyBet was founded by Sudeep Ramnani and has spread across Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. The growth tracks directly with mobile money, OPay and Flutterwave and M-Pesa making it possible to deposit and withdraw through the phone without ever touching a bank. No bank account needed. Just a phone, a mobile wallet, and a finger.
Muslim Countries Where Betting Is Not Just Tolerated But State-Run
- Turkey. State betting. Through Iddaa, operated by SporToto. Licensed digital agents Bilyoner, Nesine, Misli.
- Morocco. State betting. Through MDJS. Fully legal. Physical and online.
- Tunisia. Promosport. State monopoly.
- Azerbaijan. Topaz. State-sanctioned.
- Kazakhstan. Fully commercial. Licensed market. Muslim majority country.
- Albania. Majority Muslim. Legal private betting shops and online operators.
- Bosnia. 50% Bosniak Muslim. Same thing.
I listed those on purpose because the assumption from outside is that Muslim equals banned. It does not. In multiple countries the government itself is the operator. The state collects the revenue. The Friday khutbah addresses the prohibition. Both things happen in the same country in the same week and nobody in those countries finds this as strange as outsiders think it should be.
Where Football Specifically Sits
Football takes more betting volume globally than any other sport and it is not remotely close.
Sensor Tower confirmed the 24% growth in betting downloads was driven primarily by football betting markets, Brazil being the biggest new entrant.
In-play bets during football matches now account for 53.4% of all wagers. More money bet during the 90 minutes than before kickoff. That crossed the 50% line recently and it is not going back.
Why football and not cricket or basketball or tennis?
Ninety minutes, two halves, one break, no timeouts. The game does not pause. Every corner, every booking, every substitution shifts odds in real time. No other major sport generates that many live market changes per minute because no other major sport refuses to stop moving for that long.
The Licence in the Footer Tells You More Than the Download Count
Quick thing. Not every app on that chart operates under the same rules and it is worth knowing where the lines sit.
- UKGC (bet365, William Hill, Ladbrokes) – strictest. Audited, KYC required, responsible gambling tools mandatory.
- Malta Gaming Authority – strong, slightly less restrictive than UKGC.
- Curacao eGaming (1xBet, Melbet, 22Bet, 1win) – lightest major licence. Faster to get, fewer protections if something goes wrong with your money.
- US state licences (DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM) – varies state by state.
- Nigerian NLRC (SportyBet, BetKing) – National Lottery Regulatory Commission.
An app with a UKGC licence and an app with a Curacao licence are both “licensed.” What that word means for you as a user if your withdrawal gets stuck or your account gets locked is very different between the two. The footer of any betting site shows the licence. If there is no licence visible, do not put money into that app. Full stop.
A chess grandmaster in Moscow. A woman in Stoke. A Russian company on a Mediterranean island with a Caribbean licence targeting the ummah. A Nigerian app market where betting is a quarter of all downloads. State-run gambling in Turkey and Morocco while the mosque next door teaches that it is forbidden. The Play Store has 100 million installs on one app alone. The khutbah says no. The tax office says yes please. Whoever figures out how to reconcile those two positions deserves a Nobel in economics and a fatwa at the same time.
