Interviews with former staff reveal how these unauthorised betting sites deliberately target people with gambling addictions and ignore local gambling regulations. <\/p>\n
One of the scheme\u2019s newest websites OnlySpins, a bookmaker and casino with pornographic content targeting Europeans, does not verify whether Irish users are over the age of 18 or provide checks on a customer\u2019s identity. <\/p>\n
The pornographic gambling site illegally takes bets from Irish customers. It is regulated in Tobique, a Canadian reservation for First Nation people. Payments for this site are channelled through two Irish companies, one of which, Zentoria Ltd, was licensed by the Revenue Commissioners under a remote gambling operator (RBO) licence. <\/p>\n
The other payment processor is Morada Horizon Services, which uses the Baggot Street offices of accountants Kinore as its address. <\/p>\n
Leaked records show Soft2Bet was behind the formation of this company. Kinore, the firm\u2019s company secretary, told The Irish Times it was unaware of its activities and would be terminating its relationship with the business. <\/p>\n
Soft2Bet is led by the Ukrainian-Israeli millionaire Uri Poliavich. The business\u2019s betting site Rabona sponsors Italian football team Napoli, while Atl\u00e9tico Madrid manager Diego Simeone was announced as a Soft2Bet brand ambassador earlier this year. <\/p>\n
Soft2Bet was first exposed in 2025 after Investigate Europe, a cross-border co-operative of European journalists, revealed how it had run 140 online casinos, 114 of which had been blacklisted by various European regulators. <\/p>\n
Irish authorities have granted a remote betting licence to six gambling companies run by Soft2Bet or related entities. The new Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland took over responsibility for issuing licences on July 1st, with previous licences issued through Revenue and the Department of Justice. <\/p>\n
In April 2022, Soft2Bet obtained an Irish gambling licence under its Maltese company Maltix Ltd. <\/p>\n
The investigation shows five other entities connected to Soft2Bet but owned by proxies or shell companies also obtained Irish licences.<\/p>\n
They are: Naale Ltd and Sligo Ltd, which are based in Malta and Cyprus respectively, and Sky Rain Ltd, Zentoria Ltd and Salvia Ltd, which are all registered at a company formations firm on Waterloo Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin. <\/p>\n
Despite having Irish licences, Soft2Bet-linked gambling sites, which do not have Irish licences, have been found to be targeting Irish gamblers and taking bets without authorisation . <\/p>\n
The Irish Sun promoted a Soft2Bet-linked gambling site Spinsy with a positive sponsored review before removing the content when contacted<\/a> by The Irish Times. <\/p>\n Spinsy uses a licence from Anjouan, a small island in the Comoros Islands off the east coast of Africa where the Central Bank has declared such licences to be illegal. <\/p>\n After signing up for Spinsy, a reporter received a phone call from a \u201cfriendly AI bot\u201d to try to convince the journalist to pay over a minimum deposit of \u20ac20. <\/p>\n Soft2Bet said it took compliance, governance and responsible business practices extremely seriously.<\/p>\n It said the questions put to it reflected \u201can incorrect and misleading interpretation of our business and corporate structure\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur focus is on operating responsibly and in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The Irish Times Investigations Unit<\/p>\n
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