Russia-licensed online sports betting operators have had mixed success since the market formally authorized local bookmakers to take their action online.

Earlier this month, Russian online gambling affiliate Legalbet published the results of a SimilarWeb survey of the 15 locally licensed online bookmakers’ site visitation during the month of April. Topping the traffic chart was 1xstavka.ru (1xbet) at 5.9m million visits, with Fonbet.ru not far behind at 5.6m and Parimatch.ru third with 3.15m.

The Parimatch figure was notable given that its traffic in the months from November 2017 to March 2018 averaged between 600k to 800k, making the April figure around 400% higher than normal. Legalbet attributed at least some of the gains to a Parimatch promotion offering customers the chance to win tickets to the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament.

LigaStavok, the very first recipient of a Russian online betting license in 2016, ranked fourth with 2.35m visits, followed by Winline (2.2m), Betcity (2m) and Leon (1.75m). The numbers drop off dramatically from that point, with 888.ru (no relation to UK operator 888 Holdings) in last place with just 85k visits.