Upgaming's Connection to Unlicensed Casinos in the UK and EU

Investigate Europe and The Guardian have linked the Swiss-Georgian iGaming software provider Upgaming to a network of unlicensed online casinos in the UK and EU

According to a joint investigation by Investigate Europe and The Guardian, based on an analysis of domain records and corporate documents from Switzerland, Curacao, Malta, Cyprus, Georgia, and Germany, the iGaming software provider Upgaming has connections to at least eight unlicensed casino sites targeting European players. The iGN editorial highlights the following data from the investigation:

• Eight sites linked to Upgaming and operated by Santeda International (Curacao license) collectively attracted an average of 2.3 million unique visitors from the UK per month from November 2025 to January 2026 (data from SimilarWeb): Rolletto (667k), Velobet (534k), Cosmobet (320k), Goldenbet (292k), MyStake (289k), Donbet (168k), Freshbet (19k), and Jackbit (8.6k)
• According to domain records, Upgaming or the company’s CEO Tornike Tvaru reportedly registered several casino domains, including Velobet. Tvaru is also believed to have registered the domain for the affiliate program Affision, promoting Santeda brands.
• The investigation found that Upgaming registered a number of domains, including nongamstopbookies.org, targeting over 500,000 British players registered in the national self-exclusion system GamStop. The sites promoted Santeda brands, including Goldenbet and MyStake.
• Regulators in France, Italy, and Poland have blacklisted Velobet, while regulators in Greece and Sweden have blacklisted Santeda.
• MyStake was promoted through allegedly fake partnerships. Several articles claimed a sponsorship deal with the English football club Leeds United and the ambassadorship of Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho. In publications, the owner of MyStake was named as a certain Andres Markow, but outside of these articles, journalists found no mentions of him online. The club denied the partnership, and a source close to Ronaldinho stated that the meeting did not take place, while an analysis by The Guardian and the Reality Defender platform showed that joint images of Markow and Ronaldinho were likely generated using AI or underwent digital manipulation.
• The original name of Santeda International was Onyxion. The same name is held by the Maltese Onyxion Malta, owned by Tvaru. Spain fined Onyxion Malta €5 million in 2023 for unlicensed gambling activities.
• The revenue of Upgaming’s Cypriot subsidiary was €26 million for 2023. According to Cypriot reporting, Upgaming provided loans of €6.5 million to a development project company in Tbilisi involving Tvaru.

Lawyers for Upgaming denied the company’s involvement in illegal gambling activities and stated that Santeda was merely a client using the company’s software. On March 27, Upgaming announced the termination of its partnership with Santeda due to «unregulated presence in jurisdictions with restrictions.»

Of the eight identified sites, the UK Gambling Commission requested Google to remove five, but all eight are still accessible through search results.