| The Bookmaker Ratings | |
| Type: | Daily sports newspaper |
| Format: | Analytical website |
| Owners: | Paruyr Shahbazyan |
| Chiefeditor: | Bradley Gibbs |
| Foundation: | 1 March 2012 |
| Language: | English, Armenian, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Ukrainian, |
Bookmaker Ratings is an online publication covering topics related to sports betting and disputes between players and bookmakers. It is published in seven languages: English, Armenian, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Ukrainian.
The Bookmaker Ratings was founded by Paruyr Shahbazyan in 2012.[1] Later that year, the site made headlines after being informed of a possible match-fixing incident in the Russian National Football League between FC Khimki and Petrotrest St. Petersburg, and UEFA asked them to investigate.[2]
The website publishes betting tips for various sports written by the site's authors who range from journalists to ex-players. These authors include commentator Konstantin Genich, former world number 5 tennis player Anna Chakvetadze, football manager of the Russian national team Valeri Karpin, and Russian football coach and a former player Yegor Titov. Other experts in the past have included football World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro and former heavyweight boxing champion Nikolai Valuev.[3] According to a 2015 interview of Shahbazyan for Forbes, Bookmaker Ratings averaged 1.2 million hits a month, 350,000 of which were unique visitors.[4] The site uses an independent rating system[5] where bookmakers are ranked from 1 to 5 on several criteria.
The site was able to refund more than 1.4m US dollars to players in their first four years of existence.[6]
In 2018, the Bookmaker Rating introduced the RB Prize, an international award in the field of sports and bookmaking.[7] The awards are presented in 28 categories.
In 2021, the main nominations in the award were announced by football player Luis Figo,[8] Fonbet became the bookmaker of the year, Artem Dziuba became the sportsman of the year.[9]
In 2022, the RB Prize was held at the Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace, Fonbet became the bookmaker of the year for the second year in a row, Dina Averin's athlete of the year, Emmanuel Adebayor announced the main nominations.[10]
In 2018, the Bookmaker Ratings established its own international Award in sports and betting. The awards are given in 28 nominations.[11] In 2021, football player Luis Figo announced the main nominations for the award. Fonbet became the bookmaker of the year and Artem Dzyuba became the sportsman of the year.[12]