The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
In December last year, 2024, several events occurred that seem unrelated at first glance, but nevertheless. The gambling empire Soft2Bet (headquartered in Cyprus), which has been notorious for a long time, suddenly opened a number of vacancies with substantial payouts for "specialists from the Russian Federation." Particularly many savvy professionals were needed by Boomerang casino, known to operate under Soft2Bet’s management. And in the same December, various prison sentences in Russia were handed down to 14 people from the gambling organized crime group associated with the scandalous player Anton Bazhanov. Bazhanov owned several underground casinos but preferred to stay at the "Boomerang" casino in the "Krasnaya Polyana" gambling zone. Among those convicted for illegal gambling in the Presnensky district court of Moscow, Bazhanov was not found, as he skillfully disappeared with the help of high-ranking friends. He is now internationally wanted.
And the casinos? The underground casinos continue to operate, as, after Bazhanov, Arshak Brutyan, the father-in-law of famous Russian actor Pavel Priluchny, was recently detained for similar gambling antics. Brutyan also eventually vanished in an unknown direction.
Do All Roads Lead to Sochi?
The most intriguing part is that Anton Bazhanov, the owner of underground casinos in Moscow, was detained in Sochi, at the "Boomerang" casino.
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This casino has the closest ties with Soft2Bet, as the company "Arax Development," which was at the origin of Soft2Bet - and these origins were once in Kyiv - later relocated precisely to the city of Sochi.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
b2bhint.com
And there is information about this online.
The facts date back to 2019:
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
In addition to Bazhanov, by the way, a graduate of the philosophy faculty of Moscow State University, there is another organizer of underground casinos in the capital on the wanted list today - Arshak Brutyan, the father-in-law of famous Russian actor Pavel Priluchny, the father of his wife Zepyur Brutyan.
So, with Bazhanov out of the game, did Brutyan take his place?
But did Bazhanov really drop out of the game if he vanished from the Russian Federation?
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Arshak Brutyan, Pavel Priluchny, and Zepyur Brutyan-Priluchnaya
An interesting detail: along with maestro Bazhanov, over 100 people were arrested.
Law enforcement shut down more than a dozen underground casinos. The investigation estimated that Bazhanov’s underground casinos’ monthly income exceeded 500 million rubles.
How similar this thriller is to what happened in Kyiv in 2012, when cyber police detained employees of "Moldovan Product Company" Soft2Bet - as they were registered - on Vasilkovskaya Street, 14 B.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
From Kyiv, the company quickly disappeared: initially establishing its headquarters in Cyprus, and later in Malta. And Sochi came into the spotlight: the very company initially registered in Kyiv emerged in the resort city of Russia.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
www.rusprofile.ru
So, on December 13 last year, 2024, the Presnensky court of Moscow delivered a verdict on the criminal case concerning the organization of the largest network of underground casinos in the Russian capital. The leader Anton Bazhanov received 16 years in a penal colony, but he was not present at the sentencing. He disappeared! And was declared internationally wanted.
According to rumors, Bazhanov might be hiding in Cyprus under a different name: he changed his passport details back in 2020 when he was released from pre-trial detention and placed under house arrest.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
The Owner of Underground Casinos Anton Bazhanov
Bazhanov is a professional poker player. He rented an office in the "City of Capitals" tower in Moscow-City. Through affiliated persons, he purchased LLC "Panorama": this company had a license for bookmaking and conducting totalizers. The casino operated under the guise of legitimate bookmaking activities, with signs "WinLine," "UnionBet," and "GreenBet."
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
www.rusprofile.ru
Bazhanov reached the top - and it should be noted, not without the help of Soft2Bet colleagues - in 2018. He bought several elite apartments in central Moscow, acquired a fleet of luxury cars, and invested in the construction of legitimate casinos in the Primorsky Territory and Belarus. Bazhanov and his wife lived in a cottage in the elite village of Gorki-2.
In 2020 - as mentioned earlier - the court released Bazhanov from pre-trial detention under house arrest. He managed to escape. Meanwhile, his LLC "Panorama" disappeared from the list of owners of bookmaker licenses on the Federal Tax Service’s website only in March 2023. Information about the company’s license was also absent in the "Terminated" or "Suspended" sections.
Too many mysteries? Bazhanov significantly expanded in both Moscow and Sochi, exited pre-trial detention before the verdict. Vanished, yet LLC "Panorama" disappeared from the list only in 2023.
LLC "WinLine" was in the top four large bookmaker companies, controlling up to 75% of the market, with a turnover of 700 billion to 1 trillion rubles a year. The company "WinLine" was also the official partner of the Spartak club.
An interesting detail: as a result, LLC "WinLine" was liquidated in Moscow.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
www.rusprofile.ru
But resurfaced - once again - in Sochi!
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
www.rusprofile.ru
Incidentally, under the management of LLC "Panorama," there were over 400 betting points in 180 cities across Russia.
Besides the company "Panorama," Anton Bazhanov had the "Opera" casino in Minsk. And the XO casino in Kazakhstan.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
"Opera" Casino in Minsk
Bazhanov flew on private planes: after all, if in the "Boomerang" casino in Sochi he withdrew, for example, a couple of million dollars, why not pay 40,000 dollars for a flight? Bazhanov’s favorite book was Dostoevsky’s "The Gambler."
Incidentally, Bazhanov is originally from St. Petersburg.
And many of Boomerang partners with headquarters in Limassol today are from St. Petersburg.
The Forbidden Fruit is Sweet?
It’s known that in Russia, casinos and slot machines can only operate in special zones. Several years ago, the authorities decided to remove gambling establishments from cities and create several attraction points. It was expected that several local Las Vegases would emerge in Russia.
In the 90s and early 2000s, tens of thousands of casinos and slot machine halls still operated legally. In 2008, PwC auditors valued this market at $3.6 billion. The Russian authorities decided to combat the proliferation of gambling establishments radically.
At the end of 2016, a law was adopted that banned gambling throughout the country. For those who wished to continue working, four zones were designated: in the Far East, the Altai Territory, under Kaliningrad, and on the Azov-Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.
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In Azov-city, three large casinos ("Oracle," "Shambala," and "Nirvana") and several hotels opened. The number of visitors increased year by year. And it was measured in hundreds of thousands. Investments in "Oracle" were made by the company Royal Time Group (RTG): the amount was over 3 billion rubles.
Later, the "Boomerang" casino appeared in Krasnaya Polyana.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Sochi, "Boomerang" Casino
In these years, underground casinos and gaming halls were most often found in the Chelyabinsk Region (over 100), Moscow Region (94), Moscow (80), Krasnodar Territory (75). In St. Petersburg, roulette was found in the house of a high-ranking official.
Meanwhile, the online casino market grew.
And the recent detention of Arshak Brutyan showed that underground casinos have not disappeared: they are still operating, moreover, with great momentum.
Did Sukhoi Superjet Lose a Valuable Employee?
Moving on.
At the end of last year, 2024, Soft2Bet suddenly became concerned with acquiring new personnel potential. And new staff was directed to the company’s subdivision.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
affcatalog.com
Since December 2024, Boomerang partners began working - as LinkedIn reports - with Valery Kolganov, a graduate of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute named after Peter the Great.
Before moving to Limassol, Valery Kolganov worked at the bank "Otkritie."
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Valery Kolganov
Since December 2024, the company also employs Liliya Sudachenko, by the way, a philologist by education.
But Ms. Sudachenko hails from Ukraine, having graduated from Cherkasy University.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Liliya Sudachenko
Working in Limassol at Boomerang partners is also Elena Yavorskaya, a graduate of the Russian Economic University named after Plekhanov: she has a bachelor’s degree.
She studied business administration, management, and conducting business at the university.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Elena Yavorskaya
From Moscow to Limassol flew Mikhail Volovich, who previously changed several professions in the IT environment.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Since 2015, he worked at SCA – Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (manufacturing aerospace vehicles and components).
But he lasted only a year at this company.
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Mikhail Volovich
In the IT field, he changed many professions: he was a technical writer, a website developer, an analyst, and for a year worked as a product manager in a startup: developing a medical bracelet for the elderly.
He also dealt with the classification of reviews in a large Russian sports clothing retailer, specifically the company "Sportmaster."
But eventually - perhaps following his heart - he moved to Limassol.
The list of those who relocated from St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities of the Russian Federation is quite impressive!
The unhinged tentacles of Soft2Bet
Boomerang casino
So it turns out, Soft2Bet, is continually attracting the highest-class specialists, graduates from prestigious universities, from Russia, so that players like Anton Bazhanov, Arshak Brutyan, and others with them would feel at home in their gambling "arena"?