Soft2Bet: A Vast Network of Illegal Gambling Sites Tied to a European Industry Leader
At the heart of an enormous fraud spanning nearly all of Europe lies Soft2Bet — one of the most prominent software providers for online casinos, which for years has allegedly disguised illicit operations under the facade of legitimate business. An investigation by Investigate Europe uncovered a sprawling structure comprising more than 140 gambling websites, many of which operated without national licenses. Despite winning industry awards in 2024, the company is tied to numerous platforms blacklisted in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, Belgium, and Hungary. Soft2Bet’s owners continued their operations unabated, profiting from the losses of users such as Felix from Germany, who lost nearly €500,000 at one of Soft2Bet’s affiliated casinos.
On the surface, Soft2Bet presents itself as a typical IT firm, claiming not to own any casinos directly but merely to supply software and develop custom platforms. However, analyses of corporate registries, trademark databases, and domain records reveal otherwise. The company not only built but also controlled and promoted dozens of platforms operating under different brands, often routed through chains of offshore companies. Many of these platforms — such as Wazamba, Boomerang, or MyEmpire — have documented ties to Soft2Bet’s owners, partners, or subsidiaries. In Felix’s case, a German court ruled for the return of €245,000, but the money never reached him due to the bankruptcy of Rabidi, a company connected to Soft2Bet.
The companies Rabidi and Araxio Development, both registered in Curaçao, played pivotal roles in this structure, providing legal and financial support to many of the sites, including Wazamba. However, by the time court rulings came through, the companies had already shifted assets, leaving hundreds of victims uncompensated. Both Rabidi and Araxio declared bankruptcy, yet investigators were still able to trace connections to Soft2Bet’s ownership and management through shared addresses, corporate documentation, domain registrations, and the use of identical IT infrastructure.
At the center of this labyrinth stands Israeli businessman Uri Poliavich, a Cyprus resident and founder of Soft2Bet. He is also the main financial beneficiary of the enterprise. In 2023, the company declared more than €66.8 million in profits, from which Poliavich received nearly €58 million in dividends. These funds were partially invested in real estate in Nicosia, Prague, and Sofia, as well as in luxury vehicles valued at over €1.3 million. Despite being named “iGaming Leader of the Year” in 2024, Poliavich’s name appears in company documents linked to numerous banned platforms.
One of Soft2Bet’s most prominent platforms, Boomerang, gained notoriety by becoming a regional sponsor of the AC Milan football club in July 2024, despite being banned at the time in Italy, Spain, France, Greece, and Poland. According to Similarweb, Boomerang attracted more than 17 million visits in Q4 of 2024, primarily from Germany — where it also operates without a license. Even after being blacklisted, the site continues to operate with impunity, benefiting from jurisdictions that offer little oversight over online gambling.
Soft2Bet’s business model relies heavily on “turnkey casinos” — ready-made gambling platforms offered to clients, while the company retains control over technical infrastructure, traffic, and affiliate networks. Internal materials mention that the core of the marketing strategy was executed through two Gibraltar-based firms, which handled promotion on banned markets, including France, Italy, and Poland. Influencers and affiliate marketers received generous incentives to attract users, often ignoring regulatory restrictions.
Curaçao has proven to be the cornerstone of this opaque structure. The offshore jurisdiction provides licenses with minimal oversight on where the platforms operate. According to Dutch investigative journalist Nardine Kram, who has spent years uncovering online gambling fraud, Curaçao is a global hub of the “shadow” gaming industry. Her organization, SBGOK, receives constant complaints about casinos linked to Rabidi and Araxio but struggles to assist due to the overwhelming volume of reports.
Despite growing scrutiny, dozens of Soft2Bet-affiliated sites — including Wazamba, Nomini, MyEmpire, Betinia, Lightcasino, CampoBet, and Yoyocasino — remain online. Investigators found identical backend code, shared hosting servers, mirrored page structures, unified CRM systems, and centralized user databases across these platforms. Many domains and IP addresses were registered under names linked directly to Soft2Bet or its shell companies.
In response to journalists, Soft2Bet issued a brief statement denying all allegations as unfounded and damaging to its reputation. The company claimed it operates strictly within legal boundaries and complies with licensing requirements. However, neither Soft2Bet nor Poliavich explained how dozens of their related platforms continued operating in blacklisted jurisdictions using the same infrastructure.
What fuels this empire is a carefully engineered system of shell corporations, offshore directors, and nominal partners, designed to obscure real ownership and dodge accountability. Even after Rabidi and Araxio declared bankruptcy, their assets were simply transferred to new entities. This structure complicates legal efforts to recover damages, as seen in Felix’s case, and allows Soft2Bet to keep profiting from addiction while evading both regulators and courts.
Soft2Bet continues to receive international accolades, open new offices in Malta and Cyprus, host government delegations, and sign sponsorship deals with football clubs. The entire mechanism remains operational thanks to legal loopholes, weak international oversight, and the lack of coordination among national regulators.
This empire is built on deception, technological sophistication, and impunity. It symbolizes a new age of digital criminality in the gambling sector. The names, countries, sums, and victims are already known. The only question remaining: who will be next?
Despite the mounting evidence, the lack of legal harmonization across the European Union remains a significant obstacle to enforcement. Each country operates its own gambling laws, creating loopholes that companies like Soft2Bet exploit with precision. For instance, a site banned in Italy can still operate freely in Germany, simply by rerouting traffic through another shell company registered in Curaçao. This fragmentation undermines joint efforts to curb illegal gambling and highlights the urgent need for a unified EU-wide regulatory framework.
Another critical element of Soft2Bet’s strategy is its aggressive SEO and social media manipulation. Numerous casino review websites, many of which are operated anonymously or by affiliates linked to the company, flood search engines with positive reviews of banned platforms. These articles often obscure warnings from regulators and promote no-deposit bonuses or VIP rewards, luring vulnerable users. Experts warn that the scale of this digital propaganda machine not only distorts public perception but also frustrates efforts by consumer protection agencies.
Furthermore, whistleblowers within the company have reported internal pressures to maintain high player retention rates, even at the expense of ethical standards. Former employees allege that data analytics tools were used not only to identify high-spending users but also to manipulate their behavior through targeted bonuses and “VIP manager” schemes. These practices, described as predatory by industry watchdogs, may amount to psychological exploitation, especially in markets where gambling addiction remains underdiagnosed and underfunded.
