A public database containing more than 40,000 leaked documents from Curacao’s gambling regulator has gone live, as companies named in an international investigation dispute its findings.
The searchable TheCasino Secrets archive was published on Wednesday morning, one day after the first reports based on the documents appeared. It covers casinos licensed by the Curacao Gaming Authority (CGA) and warns that appearing in the database “does not imply illegal or improper conduct”.
Searches by Bitcoin.com News found records relating to Dama N.V. and Latiform B.V., two Curacao-registered companies named in the reporting.
The files were obtained during a nine-month breach of the CGA’s licensing portal by Berlin-based security researcher and journalist Lilith Wittmann. She first accessed the system under an assumed identity in December 2025.
Follow the Money, which led the investigation with Germany’s NDR, Norway’s NRK, Sweden’s SVT and Austria’s Jetzt, said the material identifies about 800 owners linked to almost 650 licensed companies.
The CGA confirmed unauthorised access on 17 September, saying the breach had been contained and its source identified. A forensic investigation remains under way.
Softswiss rejects central role
Softswiss has issued the most detailed response so far. In a lawyer’s letter dated 9 September and quoted in a source document published by NDR’s STRG_F, the technology company said it “operates no online casinos itself” and does not provide gambling services directly to customers.
It argued that supplying software or technical infrastructure to independently run businesses does not amount to ownership or control. The letter compared that relationship with providers of standard products such as Microsoft Office or Apple software, which are not responsible for how customers use them.
Regarding Platincasino, a German-facing brand reportedly linked to a Frankfurt prosecution, Softswiss said it “may have provided individual software components or access to certain game providers”, but had no role in operating the business.
A lawyer for founder Ivan Montik confirmed he owned 100% of Dama N.V. and Topchik N.V. before selling them, while denying that he had been involved in their operation. The letter also said Germany’s licensing requirement for virtual slot machines was unlawful, meaning an overseas-licensed operator accepting German customers was not acting illegally. It added that the companies named had paid several hundred million euros in German gambling tax under protest.
The CGA told STRG_F it did not classify around 1,000 domains as belonging to a Softswiss network and could not confirm what it called a grouping “which has been fabricated by you”. It said shared technology platforms were “commonplace across the online gambling industry” and did not turn separate licensed businesses into one regulatory network.
The authority said it did not help operators evade website blocking and that registering additional domains was not permission to target countries where they were not legally allowed to operate. A Curacao licence, it added, “does not authorize an operator to conduct activities in Germany”. The CGA said it had rejected about 28% of licence applications since 2023.
Mario Galea of Malta-based Random Consulting, which carries out due diligence for the authority, told Jetzt that his team only collected information and that licensing decisions were made solely by the CGA. He rejected claims that his firm facilitated illegal gambling.
The CGA’s licence register dated 21 September lists Dama, Latiform, Hollycorn N.V., Just Entertainment B.V., Topchik, 1xBet’s Caecus N.V. and Blaze operator Prolific Trade N.V. as holding indefinite licences. Stake’s Medium Rare N.V. is listed as “assessment in progress”.
The enforcement register records 32 licences that were revoked or not extended, including the licence of Qbet operator Novatech Solutions N.V., which was removed in May. A Curacao licence costs about $54,400 (47,450 euros) a year under rules tightened by the CGA for crypto operators in June.
Wittmann said the public interest justified releasing the database despite how it was obtained. The Malta Gaming Authority, whose systems she breached earlier this year, has secured an injunction against her before a Berlin court. A ruling was postponed shortly before the database was published.
