Irish authorities granted gambling licences to six companies at the heart of a global network of black-market betting and casino websites. Two Irish companies were also found to be processing payments for unlicensed gambling sites operating in Europe. An investigation – led by Investigate Europe and involving The Irish Times and media outlets in 14 other countries – has obtained leaked documents and interviewed insiders to reveal how global betting giant Soft2Bet and its related entities received €600 million from dozens of offshore casinos that regulators in Europe had blacklisted or fined. Internal documents shared with The Irish Times show that between 2020 and 2024 money flowed from black-market gambling sites through a network of shell companies and payment agents to Soft2Bet or related entities. [ How a global gambling empire used Ireland to exploit addictsOpens in new window ]Interviews with former staff reveal how these unauthorised betting sites deliberately target people with gambling addictions and ignore local gambling regulations. One of the scheme’s 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’s identity. 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. The other payment processor is Morada Horizon Services, which uses the Baggot Street offices of accountants Kinore as its address. Leaked records show Soft2Bet was behind the formation of this company. Kinore, the firm’s company secretary, told The Irish Times it was unaware of its activities and would be terminating its relationship with the business. Soft2Bet is led by the Ukrainian-Israeli millionaire Uri Poliavich. The business’s betting site Rabona sponsors Italian football team Napoli, while Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone was announced as a Soft2Bet brand ambassador earlier this year. 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. 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. In April 2022, Soft2Bet obtained an Irish gambling licence under its Maltese company Maltix Ltd. The investigation shows five other entities connected to Soft2Bet but owned by proxies or shell companies also obtained Irish licences.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. 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 . The Irish Sun promoted a Soft2Bet-linked gambling site Spinsy with a positive sponsored review before removing the content when contacted by The Irish Times. 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. After signing up for Spinsy, a reporter received a phone call from a “friendly AI bot” to try to convince the journalist to pay over a minimum deposit of €20. Soft2Bet said it took compliance, governance and responsible business practices extremely seriously.It said the questions put to it reflected “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,” it said.The Irish Times Investigations UnitThis project was produced by The Irish Times Investigations Unit. Graphics by Rachel Lavin and Paul Scott If you have a story tip, contact us here.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, Ciren, France 2, Franceinfo.fr, Il Fatto Quotidiano, The Irish Times, Partizan, Profil, Publico.es, Publico.pt, Reporters United, Le Soir, Shomrim, Svenska Dagbladet, Times of Malta and The Toronto Star.