The Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has imposed a €4,228,000 administrative fine on Starscream Limited for offering illegal online gambling to Dutch players via RantCasino, AllstarzCasino, and SugarCasino. The KSA explicitly frames enforcement as a “third-party” problem too—working with payment service providers, banks, hosting, and big tech—because unlicensed casinos don’t scale without rails.
Recent whistleblower reports and online investigative publications in January 2026 allege that SoftSwiss, through its Malta-licensed entity Stable Aggregator Limited (MGA/B2B/942/2022), operates as an unlicensed payment hub and money laundering facilitator for affiliated casino operators targeting prohibited jurisdictions. The allegations assert that SoftSwiss processes payments from unlicensed merchants.
Online casinos are easily transferable digital assets. The transfer of Gammix Ltd's casinos to offshore operator Starscream Ltd raises serious questions about the continued illegal gambling activities in Europe. Despite massive penalties from the Dutch regulator KSA, Gammix appears to have simply shifted its operations offshore, where it continues to flout regulatory oversight facilitated by regulated payment processors.
Another day, another exposed illegal online casino facilitated via Cyprus. Payment processors play a crucial role in sustaining this underground economy. FinTelegram's research repeatedly reveals that without these facilitating payment processors, many illegal online schemes, particularly in the gambling sector, would not thrive. Currently, we are focusing on the brands of the collapsed Rabidi Group that continue to operate anonymously and unauthorized. Here is our report on Cazimbo.
While the main website of the Betify online casino, Betify.com, states Altacore N.V. has a Curacao license as an operator, various other Betify websites do not provide any information about the operators. Costa Rica is stated as the jurisdiction responsible for the terms and conditions. In our reviews at the beginning of August 2024, we discovered the Cyprus-registered Altaprime Limited as the payment processor for anonymous and illegal casino activities.
PlayRegal is a scheme mirroring the previously exposed and illegally operating online casino, Atlantis Slots. Both platforms utilize the same payment facilitators. Following our investigation, Atlantis Slots has removed references to its alleged operating company in Curacao and its Cypriot payment agent. Likewise, the PlayRegal website fails to provide information about the operators. Evidence suggests that both schemes are operated by the same individuals.
As part of our analysis of payment facilitators in the high-risk segment of online casinos and gambling providers, we have already reported on the Curacao licensed provider NewEra. Like many other offshore casinos, it also operates via a payment agent in Cyprus. One of the payment facilitators for the NewEra casinos is the FinTech unicorn Revolut, through which players from jurisdictions in which NewEra does not have a license can make deposits.
The NewEra Group is another online casino and gambling operator that operates with a license in Curacao and a payment agent in Cyprus. Although NewEra does not have a license in Europe or North America, it attracts customers and their deposits from these regulatory regimes. Revolut, Binance Pay and MiFinity appear to be the most important payment facilitators. Binance Pay is offered at all NewEra casinos.
We've uncovered a concerning trend in our recent analysis of the online casinos and gambling sector, particularly focusing on the high-risk aspects of these activities and their associated payment processors. Many payment processors, including those regulated by financial authorities, seem to be unknowingly engaging in unauthorized and, consequently, illegal online gambling operations. FinCrime Observer published an interesting report about this scene and its payment processors.
We downgraded Russian-controlled offshore broker PocketOption to our black compliance list a few weeks ago in light of its numerous regulatory warnings. In recent months, PocketOption a/k/a PO Trade a/k/a PO has also addressed the Russian market, which is actually blocked by Western sanctions, through a network of new domains and websites and acquired retail traders. Here is an update on PocketOption.
We have warned several times in recent months about the offshore broker Pocket Option a/k/a PocketOption or PO Trade, which was previously on our Red Compliance list. One of our readers brought to our attention that there are warnings against PocketOption from regulators worldwide. The offshore broker scheme is on the warning lists from the U.S. over Brazil and Europe to Malaysia. We have therefore downgraded PocketOption and placed it on our black compliance list.
Most recently, the Belgian FSMA has placed the offshore broker scheme PocketOption a/k/a PO Trade on its blacklist. Over the past few years, several regulators have already warned against the unregulated broker. For a few weeks, PocketOption has been operated by Infiniti Trade LLC, a company registered in Costa Rica. Before that, it was Gembell Limited. We have added PocketOption to our Red Compliance list.