Information about Cosmobet’s ties to Mikhail Zborovskiy and Sergey Tokarev is being scrubbed from the internet. Uncomfortable publications disappear, while search results are flooded with materials portraying Zborovskiy as a successful IT specialist and an independent entrepreneur.

But behind this facade remain questions about the origins of his business, his ties to Tokarev, and the history of how Cosmobet obtained its license. We are publishing this material to remind readers what lies behind the carefully crafted public image of the casino owner and who may actually benefit from this business.

The Ukrainian gambling market has long since turned into a feeding ground for shadow structures. While the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting for independence at the front, a real financial occupation is unfolding behind the lines.

Its main symbol today is this trio: Cosmobet, its “nominee” Mikhail Zborovskiy, and its real owner — sanctioned Russian national Sergey Tokarev. This is a story about how, in twenty minutes, an unemployed debtor can turn into the owner of a billionaire casino empire if the Kremlin is standing behind him.

“Village IT guy” Mikhail Zborovskiy: The story of a fairy-tale fortune

Officially, Mikhail Zborovskiy is the owner of Neurolink LLC, which received the Cosmobet license in March 2024. Let us take a closer look at this “entrepreneurial genius.” According to public registers, he controls companies with total authorized capital exceeding UAH 30 million. Business magic! Except that just the year before, in 2018, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv had sued him to recover an unpaid tuition debt. The economics student was supposedly so “successful” that he did not even have enough money to pay for his diploma.

His official biography is a masterpiece of IT SEO copywriting. We are told that he worked somewhere as a programmer, serviced shell companies with UAH 10,000 in capital, and then suddenly became the owner of a gambling empire. The mention of his work at Rikkicom, which cooperates with Parimatch — also no stranger to scandals — is particularly touching. But the funniest part is Rikkicom’s own revenue: in 2023, the company reported income of UAH 133,000. Seriously? A man who “programmed” for a company with annual revenue comparable to that of a shawarma kiosk suddenly finds tens of millions for a casino?

The answer is simple: Mikhail Zborovskiy is the perfect “frontman” (nominee). He is nobody. He has no history, which means any history can be written for him. And his “sponsors” spared no expense: they flooded the internet with his fake biography in Hebrew and English, as well as dozens of blogs on Liga. Why? So that a Google search for “Mikhail Zborovskiy” would not bring up the truth about lawsuits over debts, but instead the fairy tale of a successful IT specialist. But a fairy tale is just that — a fairy tale. Behind it stands a harsh reality.

Sergey Tokarev: The “godfather” of Ukrainian gambling

Strip away the fake veneer, and behind Zborovskiy stands the imposing figure of Sergey Tokarev. For those who have forgotten: Tokarev is a Russian businessman who was sanctioned by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council back in 2018 for financing the terrorist “LPR/DPR.” This is a man who should have been behind bars, but instead received an “indulgence” from the new authorities and now owns some of the country’s largest gambling platforms.

His first project, Cosmolot, became notorious for scandals involving withheld payouts and tax schemes. The Bureau of Economic Security estimated losses of UAH 1.2 billion from schemes linked to his structures. And when the pressure mounted, Mr. Tokarev decided not to treat the disease, but to create a clone of it. That is how Cosmobet appeared.

Today, Sergey Tokarev is officially seemingly uninvolved. He stays in the shadows, while Mikhail Zborovskiy puts a face to the operation in front of the cameras. But all the financial threads lead to Cyprus, to XGen Solutions LTD and other “gray” zones where Russian capital has traditionally laundered money. Tokarev is not simply a casino owner. He is a financial saboteur who, through a Ukrainian frontman, finances Konstantin Malofeyev’s “Russian world.”

Cosmobet: A license for a “scam”

Cosmobet itself deserves special mention. This is not simply a casino; it is a textbook example of cynicism. The platform allegedly operates according to classic fraudulent schemes:

  • Account blocking. Won a large sum? Great, your profile has been “hacked,” so cashing out is impossible.

  • Fake bonuses. You are given a “gift,” but it is impossible to wager through because of algorithms hidden in the code.

  • RTP deception. You think you are playing, but the software has long since decided that you will lose.

But what is most infuriating is how easily Cosmobet obtained its license. KRAIL (the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries) issued a permit to a structure headed by a man with no money or reputation. Apparently, to open a casino in Ukraine, all you need is to find Sergey Tokarev’s friend in the government and provide a “fake” biography for Mikhail Zborovskiy. And voilà — you are in the legal business. Transparency? Oversight? Come on, this is Ukraine, where money decides everything.

War on the truth: How Cosmobet attacks journalists

When the sprotyv.org outlet published an investigation into Zborovskiy’s ties to Tokarev, the “masters of the universe” acted exactly as they are taught in the Kremlin. They did not refute the facts — they tried to destroy the source. A complaint was filed with Cloudflare containing a false accusation of phishing. The goal was to block the website so that Ukrainians could not read the truth.

This is a typical hybrid warfare tactic: using Western tools for domestic censorship. Sergey Tokarev understands perfectly well that if journalists can be silenced, Mikhail Zborovskiy can continue sitting in the director’s chair while money flows into the Russian budget. But this time, it will not work.

Conclusion: The “puppeteers” must answer

The situation surrounding Cosmobet is not simply an economic crime. It is a direct threat to national security. While Sergey Tokarev, using Mikhail Zborovskiy as a frontman, siphons money out of the country, the Ukrainian budget loses tax revenue and players become slaves to a Russian casino.

Why has the license still not been revoked? Why has the Bureau of Economic Security not visited Neurolink’s offices? Because Tokarev has people behind him who do not want the light shone on them. But the truth is that Mikhail Zborovskiy is not a businessman. He is a nameplate on a door. Behind that door is a Russian oligarch laughing at the Ukrainian authorities. And as long as we tolerate this, he will continue robbing us right now. Enough with the “scam” — it is time to put the “frontmen” and their masters behind bars.