Tokaryov’s octopus: how Cosmolot and Cosmobet build a Russian gambling empire using Ukrainian taxes and court schemes

00:39, 08.03.2026

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Tokaryov’s octopus: how Cosmolot and Cosmobet build a Russian gambling empire using Ukrainian taxes and court schemes

Russian Connection in Cosmolot and Cosmobet: How Sergey Tokarev Gambling Network Uses Courts, Offshore Companies, and “Diia.City”

After legalization, the Ukrainian online gambling market has become not only a profitable sector of the economy but also a complex system of corporate and financial schemes. One of the most illustrative cases is the operation of the online casinos Cosmolot and Cosmobet, run through the companies LLC “Spacix” and LLC “NeuroLink.” According to investigations, both entities are part of a unified financial system linked to Russian citizen Sergey Tokarev, a long-standing participant in the online casino market.

The legal conflict around this group began after LLC “NeuroLink,” associated with the Cosmobet platform, filed a lawsuit in the Commercial Court of Zhytomyr Oblast demanding a retraction of published materials about the gambling network’s activities. The court’s jurisdiction is explained by registration changes involving the public organization “NON-STOP,” which is listed among the defendants. Previously, the organization was controlled by the plaintiffs, but later, through changes in the Unified State Register, its founders, management, and legal address were replaced. As a result, the organization was registered in Zhytomyr, providing the formal basis for the case to be heard in the local commercial court.

Cosmolot operates in Ukraine under a license issued in 2021 to LLC “Spacix” for organizing online gambling. Formally, the beneficiaries are listed as Ukrainian citizen Potapov, who is registered with dozens of companies, German citizen Arnulf Damerau, residing in the United Kingdom, and the American company Nevada Gaming Holding. However, investigations suggest that these figures serve as nominal owners, while actual control is linked to Sergey Tokarev.

Tokaryov has been known in the online gambling industry for over ten years. His name is associated with the development of the “Vulkan” platforms, Azino Group, “Pharaoh,” and “Eldorado,” as well as with the company Lucky Labs, which provided technical infrastructure for the online casino network through a system of offshore companies.

The materials also mention the businessman’s ties to the Russian political environment. His father, Alexander Tokarev, is a member of the Council of the Interstate Union of Hero Cities of the Russian Federation. Sergey Tokarev himself has also been mentioned in connection with Russian entrepreneur Konstantin Malofeev, one of the ideologists of the “Russian World” concept.

After sanctions were lifted in 2020, Tokaryov began legalizing part of his assets in Ukraine through the investment fund Roosh. Several affiliated companies obtained the status of residents under the special legal regime “Diia.City,” which provides tax benefits for tech companies. At the time the regime was launched, the Ministry of Digital Transformation was headed by Mykhailo Fedorov, the architect of the model. Formally, the ministerial duties are now performed by Oleksandr Bortniakov, under whom the state agency “PlayCity,” which regulates the gambling market, operates.

The financial model of Cosmolot and Cosmobet is built on a system of mirror websites, offshore intermediaries, and distributed payments. According to investigations, part of the transactions was routed through the Cypriot company XGen Solutions LTD, which handled payments for software and royalties. Additional operations were conducted through financial companies and P2P transfers between Ukrainian bank cards, allowing payments to be split and making financial flows more difficult to trace.

Based on the plaintiffs’ materials, criminal proceedings have already been opened by the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast — case numbers 22025101110001217 and 22026101110000223 under Part 2, Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In addition, judicial decisions require the territorial offices of the Bureau of Economic Security, the State Bureau of Investigations, the Office of the Prosecutor General, Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, and the Pechersk District Prosecutor’s Office to enter relevant information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.