Investigation: Offshore Casinos Promoted by European Influencers Linked to Soft2bet

^{Pictured: Blogger Spike (real name Carlo Carlini) regularly promotes unlicensed websites on his YouTube channels}

Popular bloggers and streamers across several European countries are actively promoting offshore online casinos, according to an investigation by the international journalism project Investigate Europe.

The report concerns content creators from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Germany and Sweden.

Influencers share personal referral links in video descriptions, comment sections and during live streams on YouTube and Twitch, encouraging followers to register on gambling platforms.

Affiliate programmes play a central role in cooperation between online casinos and bloggers. Streamers receive a fixed payment for each user who signs up via their link, as well as a percentage of losses generated by referred players.

Some agreements provide for payments of €100 per new customer registration and 40% of subsequent losses.

In addition, certain programmes offer bloggers special gaming balances. While these funds cannot be withdrawn, they can be used on stream to demonstrate bets.

Italian streamer TonyTubo, who has 400,000 subscribers on YouTube, is also reported to have actively promoted unlicensed online casinos.

^{Italian streamer TonyTubo (400,000 subscribers on YouTube) also actively promotes unlicensed online casinos}

A significant share of the promoted websites is linked to Soft2bet, a company based in Malta and Cyprus that provides software solutions for online gambling. The company cooperates with more than 100 websites that have been blacklisted by European regulators for operating without local licences.

The European Commission said it takes the situation “very seriously,” noting that the promotion of unlicensed sites may pose risks to consumers and undermine national regulatory frameworks.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, major online platforms are required to address the dissemination of illegal content. Twitch said community safety is a priority and announced changes to its policies on gambling-related content. A YouTube spokesperson said the platform’s rules prohibit directing users to illegal sites and that enforcement measures include the removal of content and channels.

Gambling Park previously reported that Turkey shut down the streaming platform Kick due to alleged gambling-related activities.