Soft2bet Files: The Malta-based firm's €600 million link to unlicensed gambling

A €600 million money trail has linked a Malta-based gambling firm and its related entities to offshore casinos blacklisted by regulators for unlicensed gambling. 

Leaked financial records obtained by Investigate Europe and shared with Times of Malta indicate Soft2bet and related entities received €600 million from dozens of offshore casinos that regulators in Europe had blacklisted or fined. 

The documents, which run to thousands of pages, show money flowing from the casinos via a network of companies and payment agents to Soft2bet and associated companies.  

In response to Investigate Europe and partners’ request for comment, Soft2bet denied any wrongdoing and said it took responsible business practices seriously. 

Israeli businessman Uri Poliavich created Soft2bet in 2016. 

Over the next decade, Soft2bet established itself as a major supplier of back-end technology to the industry, and claims its software is used by 10 million users globally.  

In 2024, the group inaugurated new offices in Malta at the Quad Central business towers in Mrieħel and threw anniversary parties in Dubai and Budapest. 

Today, the company also owns 11 casino and sports betting sites, from Greece and Sweden to Mexico and Canada. 

Two of its brands count Diego Simeone, manager of Spanish football giants Atletico Madrid, as an ambassador, while another is partnered with the Canadian Football League. 

Questioned about Simeone’s partnership with the betting brands, a spokesperson for Atletico Madrid said its head coach is “committed to respecting the law and has only authorized the use of his image in countries where the company holds the necessary license.” 

For years, Soft2bet and its partners operated other websites through two companies, Araxio Development and Rabidi, Investigate Europe found.  

The companies were registered in Curaçao, a Caribbean tax haven known for granting cheap gambling licences. Araxio and Rabidi were declared bankrupt in 2023 and 2024 respetively, and are no longer licensed in Curacao.

A spokesperson for the Curaçao Gaming Authority said it introduced comprehensive legislation in 2024 that has strengthened the jurisdiction's reputation.

Set up in 2016

Months after Soft2bet launched in 2016, Poliavich set-up Araxio. 

A few years later Rabidi was formed, this time through a former Soft2bet employee, corporate records show. 

These two companies provided Curaçao licences for dozens of websites. 

Such licences are typically not recognised in Europe, and soon, many of the websites were blacklisted by national authorities for targeting European customers illegally.    

In parallel, two subsidiaries were established in Cyprus to handle payments on the casinos. The name Soft2bet did not appear anywhere.  

Investigate Europe has now obtained thousands of pages of account statements from the two Cypriot entities which show the ties between Soft2bet and the network of unlicensed casinos. 

The documents reveal that between May 2020 and May 2024 the Cypriot firms, Tranello and Tilaros, channelled €600 million to Soft2bet and associated companies.  

Transfers in the payment statements were often labelled as "marketing services" or "license agreement" with over €330 million going to companies owned by Poliavich. 

These included Outono, Soft2bet's top holding company at the time, and Brainrocket, the group's casino development arm. 

Tilaros, although not formally owned by Soft2bet, was used to pay the group’s then chief commercial officer and head of compliance, and its current chief legal counsel. 

Millions more were funnelled to marketing and customer service businesses owned by Poliavich’s associates. 

'We are the same team'

Leaked internal files, interviews with former staff and analysis of corporate records suggest that these marketing and customer support companies may operate as part of the group. 

"Soft2bet has all these entities in the group but we are the same team," an ex-employee from the marketing business told Investigate Europe. "Everyone is part of the same Slack [online chat] for internal communications." 

Soft2bet said in a statement that information put to it by reporters “reflects an incorrect and misleading interpretation of our business and corporate structure. 

“Our focus is on operating responsibly and in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We maintain robust compliance and governance processes and engage constructively with the relevant authorities where appropriate,” the company said. 

'I was gambling eight hours or more'

Illegal online gambling generated more than €80 billion in revenue in 2024, representing 71% of the total market across the EU, according to marketplace intelligence firm Yield Sec. 

For gamblers like 48-year-old Stefan*, the lack of player protection was life-changing. 

The Austrian resident, who runs an air-conditioning business, says he stole from his own firm to fund his gambling habit. 

"Nobody asked me if I could afford it or where the money was from, even though I was using my company's bank accounts," said Stefan, who bankrupted both himself and his business after losing €70,000 on two unlicensed Soft2bet-linked casinos.  

"I was gambling eight hours or more until the morning, I wouldn't think about work the next day, the only thing that mattered was rolling the slots,” he said. “Gambling addiction affects your whole life, you become a pathological liar." 

Desperate players like Stefan took Araxio and Rabidi to court, unaware that Soft2bet was in fact connected to them. 

The two Cypriot subsidiaries were also sued by victims, court documents obtained by Investigate Europe reveal.  

Judges in Austria and Germany sided with the plaintiffs and concluded that the casinos were not allowed to target customers in their countries. The four companies linked to Soft2bet were declared bankrupt in 2023 and 2024.  

Regulators playing catch-up  

European regulators have so far failed to clamp down on blacklisted casinos linked to Soft2bet. The EU has no common legislation on gambling, leaving member states to regulate the sector independently. 

“The European Commission must finally use its enforcement powers to compel platforms to remove advertisements for illegal online gambling,” said German MEP Sabine Verheyen. “Member States must cooperate more closely to detect and prevent such cross-border practices.”  

Sabine Verheyen, a Vice President of the European Parliament and outspoken critic of the sector, said that if confirmed, the findings are extremely worrying and she urged member states to cooperate more closely to clampdown on unlicensed operations. 

“lllegal gambling is not a marginal phenomenon but a business on an industrial scale that is flourishing under the radar of the regulatory authorities in the European Union,” the European lawmaker said.

*Name changed to protect individual identities. 

This story is part of the Soft2bet Files, a follow-up investigation to a series launched by Investigate Europe in March 2025 into the gambling industry. Media partners for this project include Bayerischer Rundfunk, France 2, Franceinfo.fr, The Irish Times, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Svenska Dagbladet, Shomrim, The Toronto Star, Le Soir, Profil, Publico.es, Publico.pt, Folha de S. Paulo, Reporters United, Ciren and Times of Malta.