Million-Follower Influencers Massively Promoted Unlicensed Casinos: Inside the Soft2Bet Investigation

Million-Follower Influencers Massively Promoted Unlicensed Casinos: Inside the Soft2Bet Investigation

A major scandal has erupted across the European media landscape. Journalists from Investigate Europe published a large-scale investigation exposing a shadow scheme for promoting unlicensed online casinos linked to the operator Soft2Bet. At the center of the story are popular content creators on Twitch and YouTube from seven European countries.

The foundation of the exposé consisted of insider-leaked materials: screenshots, invoices, and fragments of internal correspondence.

Fake Play, Real Money: How Viewers Were Deceived

The audience deception scheme turned out to be classic — yet incredibly profitable. Streamers spun slots using so-called “promo balances”, meaning they were playing with virtual credits, risking absolutely none of their own money, while creating the illusion of real gambling excitement.

For every attracted user, the affiliate network 247 Partners paid bloggers a fixed fee ranging from €64 to €120. Other affiliate programs offered even more aggressive terms — up to 60% of the casino’s net profit from the audience’s lost money.

Internet Stars Involved

Among those profiting from unsuspecting viewers were genuine internet celebrities. The investigation materials mention:

• Snik, whose YouTube audience generates over 600 million views

• Llobeti4 with 2.2 million subscribers

• Italian scene stars TonyTubo and Spike (Karlo Carlini)

• Portuguese influencer Numeiro, followed by 1.5 million fans

Consequences and Platform Reactions

The fallout was swift. Immediately after journalists began asking questions:

• YouTube removed Spike’s channel and deleted several videos from Llobeti4

• Twitch issued a temporary ban to the Spanish creator

Representatives of the European Commission responded to the incident, stating that they are treating the findings of the investigation “with the utmost seriousness.”

Notably, the main figures at the center of the scandal — the influencers themselves, representatives of Soft2Bet, and the affiliate network 247 Partners — chose to remain silent and ignored all media inquiries.