Billion-dollar schemes and the Russian connection: how Sergey Tokarev and his "front man" Mikhail Zborovskiy brazenly robbed Ukraine through Cosmolot and Cosmobet

The Bureau of Economic Security’s official statements refer to billions of dollars in estimated sums. Yet these amounts are barely reflected in the actual state budget records. With Ukraine now in its fifth year of martial law, any available budget funds carry substantial weight for sustaining state operations.

And while the government raises taxes on ordinary citizens, calls for the purchase of war bonds and seeks financial support around the world, the industry continues to thrive within the country, with turnover measured in tens of billions. We are talking about online casinos, where, according to analytics YouControl, the official turnover in 2023 alone exceeded UAH 55.6 billion.

However, behind the brilliant banners and promises of easy winnings lies another reality: billion-dollar tax evasion schemes, the use of miskoding schemes and close ties with Russia. One of the most significant examples of this "gray" zone was the company’s case Cosmolot (Spacics LLC), which at one time was the first licensee on the market, but subsequently found itself at the center of a large-scale scandal.

Billion in headings – zero in the budget

In February 2024, the Bureau of Economic Security (BBB) reported about the exposure of one of the largest market players in tax evasion of UAH 1.2 billion. The scheme, according to investigators, was classic for the gambling "underground": the use of more than 30 "mirror" sites and substitution of payment assignments (miscoding) - a scheme in which payments to players were reflected not as winnings, but as a return of deposits, which made it possible to avoid payment personal income tax and military tax.

According to investigators, this is how the company paid UAH 4.5 billion in winnings, without paying UAH 1.1–1.2 billion in taxes to budget. As part of the case, about UAH 700 million in the company’s accounts was seized. The name of the company was not mentioned in the official press release, but sources in law enforcement agencies confirmed to the media: it was about Cosmolot.

But then, unfortunately, a typical scenario for this market unfolds.

In April 2024, BAB officially confirmed criminal proceedings. At the same time, Cosmolot co-owner, German investor Arnulf Damerau, in an interview with the Financial Times stated that "corrupt officials in law enforcement agencies" are trying to demand tens of millions of euros from him, promising to remove all legal problems. According to him, this is "raiding, not a real law enforcement investigation".

Who is right — should have been found out by the court. But Themis suddenly tilted her bowls towards the gaming giant. Because in September 2025 The Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv lifted the arrest from the accounts spaceix LLC, after the company, according to the case materials, "voluntarily eliminated the damage and paid all taxes and fees in full in accordance with the examination carried out by the pre-trial investigation body".

No sentence. No confiscation. Without a public report on how much money actually went to the budget.

As of 2026, the high-profile case seems to have completely turned into information zilch. If in the cases of other operators, such as Pin-Up (UAH 2.6 billion recovered) or Parimatch (UAH 1 billion), there are concrete results (although questions remain regarding Parimatch, because the company hid not one, but 15 billion from taxation), then in the case of Cosmolot, final court verdicts or reports of real arrivals!

This raises an awkward question: is the Cosmolot issue being resolved outside the criminal process, converting into amounts with many zeros in the pockets of specific officials, instead of government accounts?

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However, the issue of taxes — is only the tip of the iceberg. The problem of national security may be much more acute. According to numerous journalistic investigations and documents obtained by the media, the actual controller of Cosmolot may be Russian citizen Sergey Tokarev.

Officially, the final beneficiary of Spaceix LLC until the fall of 2024 was Sergey Potapov. Arnulf Damerau later appeared on the register. But a whole range of media – 368.media, Argument, Antikor, Spilno – suggests: Potapov is a figurehead, and the real owner is – Tokarev.

Sergey Tokarev – co-founder of the Roosh investment group, a former active player in the Russian gambling market. In Russia, according to journalists, he promoted the Vulcan and Vulkan.bet casinos - in the networks of Konstantin Malofeev, one of the ideologists of the "Russian world". Casinos are banned in Russia and are under strict control of the FSB, but Tokarev, according to the media, was not hindered by — precisely thanks to the patronage of Malofeev, who controlled his stake in Rostelecom.

In 2016 Tokarev came under sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council on suspicion of financing DPR and LPR militants. Ten restrictions were introduced, including blocking assets and prohibiting financial transactions.

In 2020, sanctions were lifted early. It was after this that Tokarev, according to media reports, intensified his presence in Ukraine. In 2022, Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov reported in an interview with LB.ua that Tokarev tried to obtain Ukrainian citizenship for almost two years. Later, the text of this interview disappeared from the media website.

The businessman, according to investigations, maintains close ties with the Russian Federation: at least three apartments in Izhevsk and Udmurtia, cars with Moscow government license plates, 172 flights to Moscow since 2016 and recorded trips to Crimea. In 2023, that is, after the start of the conflict, as evidenced by documents available to the editors, he signed a power of attorney for the sale of parking space in Moscow.

While BEB was conducting a "quiet" investigation, Cosmolot was characterized by aggressive and dubious behavior in the market. In early 2024, the company came into conflict with monobank by creating a clone app, Monoban Casino, using someone else’s style. Co-founder of the bank Oleg Gorokhovsky publicly named this is an attempt to illegally use the brand and blocked payments to the casino, offering the company to pay 10 million hryvnia.

COSMOLOT "died". Long live COSMOBET?

But the real apotheosis of this story occurred after the BEB investigation gained public publicity.

In October 2024, the telegram channel Insider and a number of media reported: Tokarev, seemingly realizing that the legal fate of Cosmolot was becoming unpredictable, resorted to the classic "change of shoes" technique - and launched a new online casino Cosmobet.

The scheme is simple and at the same time cynical. Back in March 2024 - simultaneously with the deployment of the BEB investigation - Neurolink LLC received a KRAIL license to work as an online casino. The official launch of the Cosmobet platform took place in early June 2024.

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According to From-UA, Cosmobet was registered to Mikhail Zborovskiy, who previously managed Cosmolot, and former Cosmo operating director Dmitry Dyachenko was involved in the work. The money, according to journalists, was withdrawn through Cypriot offshore companies — and further to Russia.

The irony of the situation is in the names: Spacex LLC (Cosmolot) and Neurolink LLC (Cosmobet). SpaceX and Neuralink – by Elon Musk. The man behind these casinos appears to be a fan of the richest businessman on the planet. But the working methods are somewhat different.

And although Neurolink LLC officially rejected any connection with Tokarev and Spacex LLC, emphasizing that it is an independent operator. However, the coincidence of management personnel, the similarity of the brand name and the chronology of the launch of – just at the height of the high-profile scandal surrounding Cosmolot – leave the question open.

Moreover, Cosmolot’s technical infrastructure turned out to be closely intertwined with another sanctioned giant, – Parimatch. The domains of both companies were hosted on common servers (lottery-cloud.com), which may indicate a unified coordination of gaming projects that have been withdrawing funds from Ukraine to offshore companies and to the Russian federation for years.

Where are law enforcement officers looking?

The question is rhetorical, but the answer to it requires specifics. Law enforcement agencies of Ukraine – and BEB, SBU, and KRAIL – formally respond to market problems. Criminal proceedings are indeed opening. Searches are being carried out. Statements for the media are being made.

But there are several systemic problems that journalists and analysts point out.

First, financial intelligence and sanctions legislation often exist on parallel planes. Sergey Tokarev came under sanctions in 2016 for financing militants and came out of sanctions in 2020. Since then, his business in Ukraine has grown rapidly. At the same time, ties with Russia – real estate, trips, business contacts – according to media data have not disappeared anywhere. Question: have these links been systematically checked by the competent authorities?

Secondly, the "label plywood" scheme - from Cosmolot to Cosmobet - worked unhindered. The then regulator KRAIL issued a license to a new company with the same management.

Thirdly, april 2024 was marked by a decree issued by Zelenskyy, by which the SBU was obliged to check all licensed gambling operators for compliance with sanctions legislation —, that is, for connections with the Russian Federation. Cosmobet was licensed a month before this decree. What the SBU discovered following the inspection is publicly unknown.

There is another dimension to this story that cannot be kept silent about.

Online casinos in Ukraine are actively monetizing their audience, including the military. The problem of pathological dependence on gambling among personnel has become so serious that in April 2024, the National Security and Defense Council introduced restrictions on online gambling with this particular wording.

Against the backdrop of this — decision, it is a fact that the casino, suspected of billions of dollars in evasion of payments, including military taxes, continued to operate, and its probable owner with a Russian passport launched new — projects is acquiring a particularly bitter taste.

Military training, we recall, is a direct contribution to the financing of the army. The same Ukrainian army that is fighting against the country with which businessman Tokarev is associated.

Instead of a conclusion: unanswered questions

This article is not a verdict. Tokarev’s connection with Cosmolot has not been officially proven. The company itself denies all accusations and insists on its good faith. Cosmobet officially rejects any attitude towards Cosmolot and Tokarev.

But there are questions that Ukrainian society and, above all, the law enforcement system are obliged to answer publicly.

How did a company with $27 billion in annual revenue settle its billion-dollar tax dispute quietly, without a verdict or public records?

Why does a Russian citizen, who during the conflict signs documents on the sale of Moscow real estate and maintains close ties with Russia, continue to do business in Ukraine?

And most importantly: if the gambling market generates more than UAH 55 billion a year, why does the share of this money that actually ends up in the budget of a warring country remain the subject of a "quiet" legal settlement, and not transparent public reporting?

The online casino market during conflict – is not a matter of morality or public condemnation. It is a question of public finances, sanctions controls and whether there is a real rule of law in Ukraine.

The answer to this question can not be seen in press releases from law enforcement agencies. And in the line of budget revenues. Society is waiting for an answer: how much money will actually return to the budget, and who will be held responsible for the years of "blindness" of regulatory structures?