Soft2Bet: From Award Shows to Europe’s Gambling Blacklists

24 July 2025

On paper, Soft2Bet looks like the kind of company that the iGaming industry loves to celebrate. Based between Malta and Cyprus, the firm collects awards, sponsors football teams, and promotes itself as a forward‑thinking tech provider.

Behind that glossy surface, however, investigators have traced a sprawling web of more than 140 online casinos — many of which European regulators have blacklisted for operating without licenses.

By early 2025, at least 114 Soft2Bet‑linked sites had landed on official blacklists in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, Belgium, and Hungary.

Whenever one domain is blocked, another seems to pop up. Corporate filings and trademark records show the same pattern: companies registered in Curaçao or the Marshall Islands, domains quietly switched, assets shuffled between entities with names most players have never heard of.

One month the site is run by Rabidi, the next by Araxio Development — until one of them declares bankruptcy and disappears from the reach of European courts.

The human cost of this game of regulatory whack‑a‑mole is best understood through people like “Felix.”

After his marriage collapsed, Felix turned to online gambling and soon found Wazamba, a colorful casino operated under the Soft2Bet umbrella. Over a few months, he lost €245,000.

He remembers the experience like a trap: the VIP invitations, the personal account managers urging him to play more, even quiet offers to help arrange funds.

“I thought I could win it back,” he later told investigators. “They knew exactly how to keep me hooked.”
A German court eventually ruled in his favor, declaring the casino operator liable. But the judgment was meaningless: the company folded, and the money was gone.

This isn’t an isolated case. Regulators across Europe have tried to fine Soft2Bet‑linked entities.

• Spain issued a €5 million penalty.
• Germany and Italy have pursued enforcement actions.

But Soft2Bet benefits from a powerful shield in Malta’s Bill 55, which effectively allows local companies to ignore court decisions from other EU states. The result is predictable: players rarely recover their losses, and the companies move on.

When Investigate Europe published its findings, the story didn’t just face legal threats. Dozens of fake DMCA copyright complaints appeared, filed by anonymous actors impersonating the journalists.

The tactic worked: for weeks, Google de‑indexed original reporting in Spain, Poland, Greece, and Estonia, while copycat sites with back‑dated posts remained.

Digital rights advocates now warn that abusing copyright law to suppress journalism has become part of the playbook for the online gambling underworld.

Even as it faced scrutiny, Soft2Bet maintained its polished public image. In July 2024, its Boomerang brand signed a sponsorship deal with AC Milan. Industry magazines praised the company as an “innovative leader.”

But the investigation paints a different picture: a chain of unlicensed casinos, shell companies hopping across borders, and a business model that thrives on legal grey zones.

In the words of one EU regulator:

Experts say only a coordinated EU response can close the gaps:

1. Unified online gambling laws to prevent jurisdiction hopping.
2. Better protection for investigative journalism against bogus copyright takedowns.
3. Closer scrutiny of payment processors and hosting services that support blacklisted casinos.

Until then, companies like Soft2Bet will likely continue to operate in the shadow between award ceremonies and courtrooms, profiting while regulators and players chase ghosts.