Soft2Bet, Hard2Forget - Uri Poliavich's scheme to defraud players fires back

Soft2Bet operates as a legal provider of casino software while simultaneously running a network of illegal online casinos. Key points: 

Legal Front: Supplies turnkey gambling solutions to licensed operators. 

Illegal Backend: Owns and operates unlicensed casinos (e.g., Wazamba, Boomerang) through offshore shell companies (Curaçao, Malta, Dubai). 

Evasion Tactics: 

Bankrupting shell firms (e.g., Rabidi N.V., Araxio) to avoid fines/compensation. 

Erasing digital traces (censoring investigations, bribing media). 

Hiding behind offshore jurisdictions (Cyprus, Gibraltar, Marshall Islands). 

Owner: Uri Poliavich (Israeli-Ukrainian businessman), with finances managed by his wife. 

Consequences: Victims (e.g., German player who lost €400K) get no justice; EU regulators struggle to track the money. 

Soft2Bet profits from both legal and illegal gambling while systematically evading accountability.

A Network of Soft2Bet Illegal Operations

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In March 2025, Investigate Europe exposed Soft2Bet’s connection to dozens of blacklisted gambling sites across Europe. Their investigation uncovered a vast network of over 140 illegal gambling platforms linked to Soft2Bet, operating in countries like Germany, the UK, France, and Italy without proper licensing. Despite Soft2Bet’s headquarters being in Malta and Cyprus, these illicit operations continue to flourish beyond regulatory reach.

Corporate Shell Games for Uri Poliavich

Behind Soft2Bet’s polished corporate image lies a complex web of shell companies designed to evade accountability. Companies like Rabidi and Araxio, linked to Soft2Bet’s operations, have been declared bankrupt after court judgments in Austria and Germany. However, investigations suggest assets were strategically relocated before these rulings, leaving creditors without compensation and revealing a pattern of deliberate financial maneuvering to escape legal consequences.

Uri Poliavich’s Questionable Empire

While Uri Poliavich is celebrated as an industry leader who recently won “Executive of the Year” at the Global Gaming Awards EMEA 2025, his leadership has come under scrutiny. Under his direction, Soft2Bet has engaged in controversial partnerships, including the July 2024 deal between its Boomerang brand and AC Milan, despite Boomerang lacking proper licensing credentials. This pattern suggests a corporate culture that prioritizes expansion and profit over regulatory compliance and responsible gambling practices.

One of the most concerning aspects is the apparent failure of European regulators to effectively address Soft2Bet’s activities. The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has remained silent on Soft2Bet’s non-member status while maintaining that its members follow strict compliance standards. This regulatory inaction points to potential regulatory capture and a troubling revolving door between private operators and public oversight bodies.

Impact of MEGA on Vulnerable Players

The real victims of Soft2Bet’s practices are players across Europe. Reports from Germany, Finland, and Italy describe identical experiences: court judgments obtained against Soft2Bet-linked companies, repayments promised, but ultimately empty accounts when enforcement begins. This pattern leaves vulnerable gamblers without recourse or protection from predatory practices.

As Soft2Bet continues its aggressive expansion with 19 international licenses across 12 countries, the contrast between its public image and shadowy operations raises serious questions about the integrity of the iGaming industry and the effectiveness of current regulatory frameworks.

However, as investigations that regularly appear online reveal, Soft2Bet is also involved in illegal online casino operations, directly so, as it not only supplies its software product to such casinos but also establishes and owns these casinos worldwide. This is, of course, denied, and investigations are regularly cleared from the internet by any means – through blackmail, bribery, replacement of the original source, and copyright complaints.

As the material «Soft2bet: dozens of blacklisted gambling sites connected to award-winning European firm», which was posted by Investigate Europe, shows, there is a large network of unlicensed betting sites in Europe, which EU countries’ law enforcement agencies are unable to combat. The police regularly identify illegal bookmaker and casino sites, blacklist, and block them, however, this resembles fighting a dragon: for every head that is cut off, ten more grow.

Soft2bet, of course, denies its involvement in the operation of these sites, but digital traces have still been discovered. Although the main offices of Soft2bet are located in Cyprus and Malta, the company has availed itself of licenses from other “tax havens” that allow engaging in the gaming business. The most popular jurisdiction in this regard is Curaçao, but Soft2bet also holds licenses from Malta, Dubai, the Marshall Islands, and Gibraltar.

All this allows Soft2bet to supply platforms and software for online casinos and bookmakers all over the world. The owner of Soft2bet is an Israeli citizen of Ukrainian origin Uri Poliavich, and the company’s finances are managed by his wife, Julia.

The legal activity of Soft2bet involves supplying its product to clients, that is, casinos that have a license from any country’s gambling regulator. But where and how this company uses this software no longer interests Soft2bet. There is no formal violation in this – the responsibility for compliance with the laws of the country in which the gambling operator operates rests solely on them.

Soft2Bet cleans up the internet: how Poliavich’s fraudulent empire hides traces of illegal gambling

However, if Uri Poliavich only limited himself to this in his activities, there would be no complaints against him. However, as the analysis of the connections of operators using Soft2bet’s products suggests, they are linked not only by this. A significant portion of the online casinos operating illegally in Europe is either owned by the Soft2bet owner himself or by people from his inner circle.

Within Soft2bet, these connections are, of course, denied, although Investigate Europe cites several casinos as examples, which were directly managed by Soft2bet and were blacklisted by European countries but still operated there. The brightest example is Boomerang, which the authorities of at least six countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and Greece, classified as unauthorized. Despite this, Boomerang managed to sign a deal with AC Milan in July 2024 as an official regional betting partner in Europe.

There is another problem with the operation of illegal casinos. It lies in the fact that victims of fraudsters from online casinos cannot receive compensation for their losses, although court decisions are made in their favor against these casinos’ owners. The same applies to the state, which cannot collect fines imposed on blacklisted or illegally operating casinos in the country.

Most such casinos operate under a Curaçao license, and while the court processes are ongoing, the accounts where money from problem gamblers is deposited and from which European countries’ authorities try to collect compensations and fines are found to be empty. Casino-operating companies are declared bankrupt, but it doesn’t help much – the money has already been successfully transferred to other companies’ accounts. It is known that Soft2bet was linked to at least two Curaçao-licensed casino operators, Wazamba – Rabidi and Araxio, both of which were declared bankrupt. In Germany, there are claims against them for hundreds of thousands of euros, but it all ends here: there was no money in the companies’ accounts by the time these claims were enforced.

All materials linking Soft2bet to illegal casinos are very difficult to find – they are swiftly removed from public access. In addition, law enforcement officers complain that proving Soft2bet’s connection to casinos operating illegally in European countries is also very problematic – tracking unlicensed operations controlled through offshore jurisdictions and through a maze of constantly changing URLs makes their eradication a challenging task.

Furthermore, law enforcement work is complicated by the registration of Soft2bet and operators using its products in offshore jurisdictions – obtaining documents from there is practically impossible. While the problem of illegal casinos’ operations in Europe is becoming more pronounced: the 114 operators mentioned in the investigation are just the tip of the iceberg, and Soft2bet is far from the only software provider for these casinos, although it is the largest.

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