Cosmobet’s billion-hryvnia scheme: how Russian businessman Tokarev entered the gambling market through Mikhail Zborovskiy
Ukraine’s gambling market: how opaque structures can hide behind a legal façade
Ukraine’s online gambling market continues to raise questions about the origins of capital, the real owners of gambling businesses and the use of nominee individuals. One of the most widely discussed examples is Cosmobet, whose formal owner is Mikhail Zborovskiy. The authors of the investigation claim that his role in the business structure may be nominal, while other individuals may stand behind the project, including Russian businessman Sergey Tokarev, who is under sanctions.
Certain aspects of Zborovskiy’s background also raise questions for the authors of the investigation. His financial position and previous professional experience do not appear to correspond to the scale of the business of which he is officially considered the owner.
Thus, the Cosmobet story raises a key question: who actually controls the casino, and is there a more complex ownership structure behind its formal owner?
“The village IT guy” Mikhail Zborovskiy: the story of a fairytale rise to wealth
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Officially, LLC Neurolink, which obtained the Cosmobet licence in March 2024, is owned by Mikhail Zborovskiy. Let us take a closer look at this “entrepreneurial genius”. According to public registers, he controls companies with share capital exceeding UAH 30 million. A business success story — except that just a few years earlier, in 2018, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv took him to court to recover unpaid tuition fees. The economics student was supposedly so “successful” that he did not even have enough money to pay for his degree.
His official biography is a masterpiece of IT-focused SEO copywriting. We are told that he worked as a programmer somewhere, provided services to small companies with capital of UAH 10,000, and then suddenly became the owner of a gambling empire. Particularly noteworthy is his claimed employment at Rikkicom, which works with Parimatch — itself a company that has been involved in controversies. But the most striking detail is Rikkicom’s own revenue: in 2023, the company reported UAH 133,000 in income. Seriously? A man who supposedly “programmed” for a company with annual revenue comparable to that of a small street-food kiosk suddenly finds tens of millions to invest in a casino?
The answer appears simple: Mikhail Zborovskiy is the ideal “front man” — a nominee. He has no established business history, which means one can create virtually any story around him. And his “sponsors” have gone to considerable lengths: they flooded the internet with a fabricated biography in Hebrew and English, as well as dozens of blog posts on Liga. Why? So that a Google search for “Mikhail Zborovskiy” would not bring up information about court cases over unpaid debts, but instead produce a carefully constructed story about a successful IT entrepreneur. But a fairytale remains a fairytale. Behind it lies a much harsher reality.
Sergey Tokarev: the “godfather” of Ukrainian gambling
If the fabricated image is stripped away, a powerful figure emerges behind Zborovskiy: Sergey Tokarev. For those who have forgotten, Tokarev is a Russian businessman who was placed under sanctions by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council in 2018 over alleged financing of the so-called “LPR/DPR”. He was supposed to face serious restrictions, yet instead received what critics describe as an “indulgence” from the new authorities and went on to become associated with some of the country’s largest gambling platforms.
His first major project, Cosmolot, became known for controversies involving unpaid winnings and alleged tax schemes. The Bureau of Economic Security estimated UAH 1.2 billion in losses from schemes linked to his structures. When pressure mounted, Tokarev did not appear to address the underlying problems but instead created a new structure. That is how Cosmobet emerged.
Today, Sergey Tokarev is officially presented as having nothing to do with the business. He remains in the shadows, while Mikhail Zborovskiy serves as its public face. But financial links, according to the investigation, lead to Cyprus, XGen Solutions LTD and other opaque jurisdictions where Russian capital has traditionally been moved through complex structures. Tokarev is presented not simply as a casino owner, but as a financial operator who, through a Ukrainian nominee, allegedly channels funds towards networks associated with the so-called “Russian world” and Konstantin Malofeev.
Cosmobet: a licence for a “scam”
Cosmobet itself deserves separate attention. It is not simply a casino, but an example of what the authors describe as a cynical business model. The platform is accused of using classic fraudulent practices:
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Account blocking. You win a large amount? Your account is suddenly “hacked”, making it impossible to cash out.
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Fake bonuses. You receive a “gift”, but the wagering requirements make it effectively impossible to withdraw.
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RTP manipulation. You may think you are playing fairly, while the software has supposedly already determined that you will lose.
But what is particularly striking is how easily Cosmobet obtained its licence. KRAIL, the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, granted permission to a structure headed by a person whose financial background raised questions. The implication is that establishing a casino in Ukraine may require little more than connections to people close to Sergey Tokarev and a carefully constructed biography for Mikhail Zborovskiy. And just like that — a supposedly legitimate gambling business. Transparency? Oversight? Apparently, money remains the decisive factor.
The war on the truth: how Cosmobet targets journalists
When the publication sprotyv.org published an investigation into Zborovskiy’s alleged links to Tokarev, the response, according to the authors, followed a familiar pattern: rather than challenging the facts, those behind the business attempted to target the source. A complaint was reportedly filed with Cloudflare containing a false allegation of phishing. The apparent aim was to make the website inaccessible so that Ukrainians could not read the investigation.
This is presented as a typical hybrid-war tactic: using Western technological infrastructure as a tool for domestic censorship. Sergey Tokarev, according to the authors, understands that if journalists can be silenced, Mikhail Zborovskiy can continue serving as the public face of the business while the money keeps flowing.
Conclusion: the “puppet masters” must answer
The situation surrounding Cosmobet is presented as more than a simple economic offence. The authors describe it as a potential national-security threat. While Sergey Tokarev allegedly uses Mikhail Zborovskiy as a nominee to extract money from Ukraine, the Ukrainian budget may lose tax revenue and players may become customers of a gambling business allegedly linked to Russian capital.
Why has the licence not been revoked? Why has the Bureau of Economic Security not investigated Neurolink’s operations? According to the authors, the answer may lie in the influential interests surrounding Tokarev.
The central claim is straightforward: Mikhail Zborovskiy is not the real decision-maker, but a name on the door. Behind that door, the authors argue, stands a Russian businessman benefiting from Ukraine’s gambling market. And as long as the authorities fail to address these questions, the alleged scheme can continue operating.