Blaze.com, Qbet.com, Stake and 1xBet are among the online gambling brands whose owners of record appeared in documents taken from the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA), the island's regulator.
The revelation was part of the Casino Secrets investigation, which was based on the documents obtained by Berlin-based hacker Lilith Wittmann. News outlets, including Follow the Money, NRK, NDR, SVT, and Jеtzt participated in the investigation.
London's trading industry is coming home!
What the Files Show
Wittmann obtained the documents from CGA’s database.
She registered on the CGA's licensing portal in December 2025 using the name of a Dutch trust office manager, claimed to represent a fictitious firm and received database access within days.
Starting today, you can investigate for yourself who owns and operates casinos in Curaçao. I’ve just released part of the data from the Curaçao Gaming Authority.
— Lilith Wittmann (@LilithWittmann) September 23, 2026
https://t.co/fHdZmXxAkr pic.twitter.com/b1QnZpIHg5
According to the data from last December, 646 organisations held a Curaçao licence. The investigation verified 897 ultimate beneficial owner records covering 767 individuals, mostly European. About 30 trust offices represent the companies, and three of them manage more than 50 letterbox firms each.
Prolific Trade NV, the company behind Blaze.com, has two owners aged 30. They declared assets of €800 million and €500 million to the regulator. Blaze denied allegations of unpaid winnings in Brazil in 2023, and neither owner responded to the investigators.
Novatech Solutions NV, behind Qbet.com, lists a 42-year-old Manila-based tech manager as its owner. The Dutch Gambling Authority fined the company nearly €25 million in March for operating illegally in the Netherlands, and Novatech has appealed. The CGA's enforcement register lists Novatech among 32 licences revoked or not extended, with the entry dated May, according to Bitcoin.com News.
Read more: How the FCA Just Handed Regulated CFD Brokers a Premier League Window
Stake, known for offering a crypto-based casino platform, is registered to Medium Rare NV, whose listed owner is Mladen Vuckovic, publicly known as the company's chief executive. He declared assets above $1 billion in 2024. Regulator staff identified loans and payments worth tens and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars from Medium Rare to companies and individuals linked to Stake's widely known founders, Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. Neither founder was named in the licence application.
For 1xBet, public information names Roman Semiokhin, Dmitry Kazorin and Sergey Karshkov, who died in 2023, as owners. The leaked files list a different person as CEO and owner of Caecus NV, the Curaçao firm behind the brand. Investigators wrote that they suspected "multiple owners" and asked for details of any business relationship with the three. The licence was granted in 2024 without those answers.
Guys, did you hear about this?
— Mike (@Openmind_Mike) September 26, 2026
A cybersecurity researcher reportedly had access to the Curaçao Gaming Authority’s internal systems for NINE MONTHS.
The Casino Secrets investigation analyzed 84,000+ documents and over 2TB of data, revealing information on around 800 people…
The Responses
The CGA told licensees last month that it had found unauthorised access to its portal, contained it and identified the source, with a forensic investigation continuing. It later confirmed the access began in December 2025 under a false identity, and said it had added security measures.
The authority did not dispute any of the Casino Secrets investigation reports that it had granted licences despite unresolved ownership questions.
It said the sector is in a transition period under the 2024 gambling law, with requirements phased in on the finance minister's decision. It also said it has followed internal due diligence procedures since 2024 and that conclusions should not be drawn from separate documents without the full context of each application.
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When asked about roughly 1,000 domains that reporters attributed to a network linked to software supplier Softswiss, the CGA said it keeps no such classification and called the grouping "fabricated". It said a Curaçao licence does not authorise activity in Germany, and said that it has rejected about 28 percent of applications since 2023.
The CGA's licence registry dated 21 September lists Caecus NV and Prolific Trade NV with indefinite licences and shows Medium Rare NV as still under assessment. FTM reported that Stake was granted a licence within the last two years.
Softswiss, through a lawyer's letter dated 9 September, said it does not operate any online casinos or provide gambling services to end users, and that supplying software does not establish ownership or control.
On the German-facing brand Platincasino, it said it may have provided individual software components or access to certain game providers but was not involved in operations.
The UK Gambling Commission said it could not comment on leaks, but added that it treats illegal gambling as a serious threat and works with partners to disrupt operators outside the regulatory framework.
