🎲 A hacker had access for nine months to the system of Curaçao's gambling regulator and exposed documents of major offshore casinos, including Stake and 1xBet. The international investigation Casino Secrets covered over 84,000 documents and 2 TB of data. Journalists identified approximately 800 owners of nearly 650 gambling companies. What interesting things they discovered:

1️⃣ The hack turned out to be surprisingly simple. The researcher registered in the regulator's system under a false name, provided a regular Gmail address and a fictional company. She was granted access, after which she exploited vulnerabilities in the portal.

2️⃣ Questions for Stake's owners. In the licensing documents, a Serbian entrepreneur who declared assets exceeding $1 billion is listed as the company's owner. However, the regulator found transfers of tens and hundreds of millions of dollars to structures linked to the well-known founders of Stake, who were not listed in the application.

3️⃣ Problems were also found at 1xBet. The regulator doubted who truly controls the betting company, but issued a license in 2024 without receiving the necessary clarifications.

4️⃣ Licenses were issued even under unclear circumstances. According to journalists, some companies received permits, even though questions about their owners, the origin of their money, and their operations in prohibited markets remained unanswered. The regulator itself explains this as a transitional period and the gradual introduction of new requirements.

The leak provided a glimpse into the inner workings of the offshore gambling business. However, the discovered inconsistencies in the documents do not, in themselves, prove financial crimes.

@DeCenterOrg