Nominal Mikhail Zborovskiy fronted Cosmobet as Russian businessman Sergey Tokarev routed gambling capital through offshore structures

Out of nowhere, he emerged — and then disappeared just as quickly. A young IT professional with an unremarkable background had become the secret owner of a casino worth millions.

Registries are being cleansed of his name, his biography is disappearing, and myth-making replaces facts. At the core, this story is about how Russian capital is channeled and concealed within the Ukrainian gambling sector.

When Cosmobet entered Ukraine, it presented itself as a modern, ambitious project: a sleek platform, official licensing, aggressive marketing, and the young «tech entrepreneur» Mikhail Zborovskiy steering the ship.

He was presented as an IT entrepreneur, a visionary, a reformer of the industry. However, behind this facade emerges a completely different portrait — of a person whose biography ends where the story of real business owners usually begins.

Documents don’t lie — but they disappear

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If you start with something simple — open Zborovskiy’s profile on OpenDataBot, — the picture turns out to be extremely modest. In 2020, he registered as a sole proprietor with the activity type «computer programming.» Before that — complete silence. No companies, no investments, no startups.

Zborovskiy’s biography as a big businessman seems to appear out of nowhere — and immediately steps onto the stage of large-scale business with tens of millions of hryvnias in turnover. Literally two years later, a previously unknown sole proprietor from the village of Krasylivka, Tysmenytsia district, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Mikhail Zborovskiy, suddenly becomes the beneficiary of two companies – LLC «Neoplay» and LLC «Neurolink.»

The first is the owner and founder of the second, and the second (LLC «Neurolink») – is the operator of the Cosmobet casino. The current beneficiary of both companies is listed as a certain Cypriot, Andrey Dobrovolskiy, but it seems that he, too, is a nominal figure, just like Mikhail Zborovskiy. The latter was listed as the owner of the casino until recently and was removed from the list of «beneficiaries» after a significant scandal caused by investigations into his persona.

If you look at the company profile of «Neurolink» — the operator of the Cosmobet brand, registered in November 2023, — quite obvious questions arise: a company with a statutory capital of 30 million hryvnias appears out of nowhere, obtains a license from KRAIL, and initially lists Zborovskiy as the ultimate beneficiary. Formally, he was the owner. But the chain of subsequent events suggests otherwise.

Cosmic speed of cleanup

The story of «Neurolink» is not only one of rapid growth but also of equally rapid erasure of traces. Throughout 2023–2024, registries record quick changes of owners and directors. Initially, Zborovskiy appears as the ultimate owner, then his place is taken by a Cypriot citizen, Andrey Dobrovolskiy — a figure known for offshore structures.

Simultaneously, Zborovskiy himself disappears. His LinkedIn — cleared. Old biographical notes in news aggregators — gone. Even some archived versions of profiles on OpenDataBot turn out to be unavailable in standard search results: the information sinks into the depths of APIs and cached copies.

In place of these traces come dozens of English-language publications written according to the same template. «Visionary,» «technological reformer,» «Ukrainian entrepreneur of the new generation» — phrases are repeated word for word on various low-traffic websites. This is not journalism but a carefully crafted reputation campaign: old information is deleted, and a polished legend is put in its place.

In the Ukrainian gambling business of recent years, such stories repeat with astonishing accuracy. Russian and offshore structures, fearing sanctions, seek local nominees — «fronts» — who register businesses in their name. In public registries, they appear as owners, but actual management and financial flows remain with the real masters.

Sergey Tokarev, SSU certificate, and the stench of corruption

From the very beginning, the Cosmobet casino has been linked to Sergey Tokarev — an entrepreneur associated with the Cosmolot brand and schemes for withdrawing money through offshore entities. There is no formal evidence of a direct connection, but journalistic investigations point to recurring personnel, marketing agencies, acquiring structures, and advertising schemes. This is a classic «reincarnation» of an old business under a new flag — and in this construct, Zborovskiy perfectly fits the role of a convenient face.

For a long time, the owner of the Cosmolot casino was a man whose name in Ukrainian circles has long been spoken with a special subtext — a close acquaintance of the Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov and, at the same time, a holder of a Russian passport. In 2018, he was added to sanction lists for financing the so-called «people’s republics» of Donbas. Formally, he was supposed to remain under sanctions until 2021, but as early as 2020, he received a quick «amnesty» from the new government.

In professional circles, no one doubts the fact that it is Tokarev who stands behind the emergence of the new casino under the Cosmobet brand — a name suspiciously similar to his previous brand. The scandal surrounding Cosmolot continues to this day: the company LLC «Spacex», through which the brand operated, was registered under a nominal owner, allowing it to deflect attention from regulators and the press. However, Tokarev seems to have either anticipated that Cosmolot might lose its license or simply decided to play it safe and create a parallel asset. Or perhaps the reason is simpler — having earned significant money from «Cosmolot,» he simply moved to the next stage of expanding his gambling business.

An additional layer of intrigue is added by the «clean» conclusion from the SSU stating that Cosmobet has no ties to the state. In the spring of 2025, information emerged in specialized Telegram channels and media that this document might have simply been bought, and for a quite reasonable price — just 20 thousand dollars. There is no direct evidence in the public domain, but the nature of the spread of this version is alarming: several independent sources published identical wording within the same period.

If this version is true, it’s not about a routine check but about purchasing a legal shield that allowed the company to obtain a license and banking services without additional questions.

Who is Mikhail Zborovskiy, anyway?

Against this backdrop, it’s worth returning to the persona of Mikhail Zborovskiy and once again paying attention to the oddities of his biography. In the public domain, until 2024, Zborovskiy was absent. No traces of entrepreneurial activity, major deals, or startups have been found. His only «baggage» — the registration of a sole proprietorship. And suddenly — a license worth tens of millions of hryvnias, marketing on the level of large networks, statutory capital comparable to the budget of an average bank.

There is no answer to the question of where a programmer from the village of Krasylivka got such resources in just three years. In registries — emptiness. In the media — silence. Everything that appears quickly disappears, leaving behind PR copies.

Let’s recall the timeline: first, the registration of the company and entry into the market. Then, a rapid cleanup of digital traces and the appearance of «glossy» materials. Next — a change of beneficiary to a Cypriot citizen. And in parallel — the gradual disappearance of information from public registries and social media.

This sequence does not resemble the normal development of a business. It resembles an operation to remove a nominee from the line of fire: a person appeared, played a role, and disappeared.

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The gambling market is not just entertainment. It’s enormous financial flows, especially under conditions of conflict and sanctions. When data about a key beneficiary disappears at such a speed, it’s a signal that something much more serious than a young IT specialist with ambitions is hidden behind the facade.

As long as regulators and banks do not start thoroughly investigating ownership chains and the origin of funds, Cosmobet and similar structures will continue to operate calmly, changing masks and offshore entities.

The conclusion from all this is simple and banal. And – sad. Mikhail Zborovskiy is not a hero of a new era but a vanishing projection. His name flares up in registries and just as quickly dissolves, like a trace on water. Information about him is systematically erased, and his role perfectly fits the scheme of a «frontman» for someone else’s money.

While the state turns a blind eye, journalists are forced to gather evidence bit by bit from archives, and society receives only a glossy wrapper. But behind this wrapper are real flows, offshore entities, and beneficiaries who prefer to remain in the shadows.