Winner Betting Ethiopia Review

Winner betting was one of the best-known names in Ethiopian sports betting. The brand ran the online site winner.et alongside a chain of betting shops in Addis Ababa, and in November 2023 it signed the largest shirt sponsorship in St. George FC’s history. In this review we look at how Winner worked – accounts, payments, sportsbook and games – and where the brand stands in October 2026.

At our last check in October 2026, winner.et was not reachable: its address pointed to a private network IP, so the site does not load for anyone. The brand’s original Telegram channel is dormant, and since 15 December 2025 no sports-betting operator in Ethiopia holds a valid licence. Everything below describes what Winner offered before it went offline.

What is Winner?

Winner’s online story begins in December 2019: its Telegram channel started on 7 December and linked to winner.et for the first time four days later. According to the business outlet Shega, the company behind the brand is Winner Ethiopia Sport Betting Plc, and press reports from November 2023 named Nigate Mulugeta as its general manager.

The brand’s biggest public moment came on 9 November 2023, when it signed a three-year title shirt sponsorship with St. George FC, the most decorated club in Ethiopian football. The Reporter and Shega put the first year at 25 million birr plus logistics costs and described it as the largest sponsorship in the club’s history.

Winner also stood out for combining online betting with retail. In September 2021 its Telegram channel listed shops across Addis Ababa, including the main branch in front of Awraris Hotel, Gerji, Figa, Lamberet, Wesen, Ayat, Addisu Gebeya (Sheger Grand Mall), Saris and Zenebework. Players could deposit and collect winnings in cash at the nearest shop. Many betting shops in the capital closed after the city administration banned betting houses in 2023/24, and the national licence revocation in December 2025 ended the rest.

Winner Bet online: registration and login

We could not test sign-up, because winner.et was already offline when we wrote this review. Review sites say registration was confirmed with an SMS code; we could not verify the exact form. Typically, Ethiopian betting sites ask for a mobile number in the +251 format, a password or PIN, and the one-time code sent by SMS. You had to be 21 or older – the minimum age under Directive 856/2014.

Login and lookalike pages

Winner Bet online login used your phone number and password. Today you will find several lookalike domains that combine “winner” with “eth” or “ethiopia” – these are third-party review sites, not the operator. The same goes for Telegram: the @winner_et handle, once announced as Winner’s betting updates channel, now posts general football news. Do not enter your old Winner login details anywhere except the brand’s own domain.

Deposits and withdrawals in birr

The one payment route confirmed by the brand itself is cash: in 2021 Winner told players to deposit and withdraw at their nearest shop. For online payments, review sites list telebirr, CBE Birr, Amole, HelloCash, Awash Birr, YenePay and bank transfer. We could not confirm those methods from Winner’s own channels, but if the review sites are right, Winner had one of the widest choices of local payment options of any Ethiopian brand.

We have no reliable figures for minimum deposits, minimum withdrawals or payout times, so we do not quote any. How the main wallets work is explained in our guide to telebirr and CBE Birr betting. Since 15 December 2025 banks and payment providers have been ordered to block betting transactions, so none of these routes is open for betting today.

Sports betting and odds

Football was the heart of Winner’s sportsbook. Ethiopian bettors focus on the English Premier League, other big European leagues and the Ethiopian Premier League, and the St. George sponsorship tied the brand closely to the domestic game.

Winner was also inventive when football stopped. During the COVID-19 pause in March–April 2020 it launched a FIFA 20 “Electronic league” and Simulated Reality League (SRL) matches, giving players something to bet on while real leagues were suspended. Review sites describe in-play (live) betting on winner.et as well; we could not verify the live section ourselves, and we did not measure Winner’s odds, so we do not publish a margin figure.

Casino, virtual games, Aviator and keno

By 2021 the site described itself as offering “Sport betting, Virtual, Casino”, and press coverage of the St. George deal also mentioned the casino side. Virtual sports were a regular part of the menu. Some review sites say Winner ran Aviator promotions and a weekly jackpot; we could not confirm either from the brand’s own channels. We found no evidence of a keno product.

Winner bonuses and promotions

The only bonus we can date from an official source is the launch offer: in December 2019 Winner announced a 100% bonus on the first deposit. Later welcome-bonus figures quoted by review sites disagree with each other – different sites give different caps and wagering requirements – so we do not repeat them. With winner.et offline, no Winner promotion can be claimed today.

Mobile site and app

Winner was used mainly through its mobile website. Review sites mention an Android APK, which we could not verify, and we found no iOS app. As with every inactive brand, ignore “Winner app” files shared in Telegram groups: an APK from an unknown source can read SMS codes and capture login details.

Is Winner safe?

Winner was a real company with a public face: a named general manager, a network of shops and one of the biggest club sponsorships in Ethiopian football. That makes it more transparent than many online-only brands. Its licence details are less clear. Review sites quote “83/2005” as a licence number, but that is also the number of an earlier sports-betting directive, so it may not be a licence number at all. Either way, ELS revoked every sports-betting licence on 15 December 2025.

The usual rules apply: use only the official domain, keep your PIN and SMS codes to yourself, and remember that betting is for adults aged 21 and over.

Our verdict on Winner

Winner betting had a lot going for it: a recognisable local brand, shops where you could pay in and collect cash, a wide reported choice of wallets, and a sponsorship that put its name on the shirts of Ethiopia’s most famous club. The weak points are that most of its online details – payment list, licence number, bonus sizes – come from third-party sources, and that winner.et has been unreachable since the national shutdown. If you want to see which brands still have a working site, start with our list of betting sites in Ethiopia or compare Winner with Toto Sport.

Winner betting FAQ