Behind the sunny facades of a start-up based in Cyprus, the French justice system suspects the existence of a clandestine machine whose scale exceeds anything the country has ever seen in terms of illegal casinos. Cresus Casino, a platform that is very popular with French players, is said to have generated nearly a billion euros since 2021.
A clandestine casino disguised as a heavenly start-up
In the spring of 2024, Limassol-based Tech4S was still proudly displaying its Great Place to Work certification. The employees, almost all in their thirties, worked in Bermuda shorts, had free lunches, travelled at company expense and even received an annual allowance for personal development. The image was polished, almost idyllic.
However, according to French investigators, this company was merely the operational front for a vast network linked to Cresus Casino, a gambling site banned in France. Behind the glass walls and bright open spaces, an illegal activity was organised, mainly targeting players in France.
In September 2025, after a lightning search, the French-speaking employees learned of their immediate dismissal during a videoconference that took just a few minutes. Internal messaging was switched off. Computers were locked remotely. In forty-eight hours, Tech4S was liquidated as if it had never existed.
The two Frenchmen suspected of being at the controls
On 8 October, two men were indicted in Paris: Grégoire A., 41, a former croupier turned professional gambler, known for having won a million-dollar tournament in Cyprus in 2023, and Victor T., 36, from Lyon, whom he met in Malta, another digital gambling paradise.
They are suspected of having run one of the largest illegal casinos operating in France from Cyprus. Their platform is said to have attracted up to 1 million monthly visitors, including 100,000 active players. The two men claim to have navigated a legal grey area.
France is one of the few European countries, along with Cyprus, to formally ban digital casinos. However, the number of underground sites has multiplied: in 2024, nearly 1,300 sites were blocked by the Autorité nationale des Jeux (ANJ). Demand is exploding: according to estimates, 5.4 million French people played on unauthorised platforms in the previous year.
In this context, the Cresus case is a first. For Stéphane Piallat, head of the Service central des courses et jeux, this investigation reveals the highly professional nature of the illegal offer and its circumvention strategies.
The blocking of the site and the immediate response of the
Cresus Casino organisation drew the attention of the ANJ in the spring of 2024. With 2,500 games, live games, in-studio hosts, sophisticated bonuses, cryptocurrency deposits and French-language customer service, the platform has all the makings of a high-end casino… except the legality.
The ANJ’s warnings went unheeded. In May, the site was blocked in France. The organisation immediately retaliated with mirror sites, new URLs, text messages sent to players and technical bypasses. A well-oiled machine.
In July 2024, the ANJ reported these activities to the Paris public prosecutor’s office, triggering the investigation that led to the arrests in October 2025.
The heart of the investigation
The investigators delved into specialist forums. Testimonies poured in: withdrawals impossible, winnings blocked, accounts suspended. Some Internet users were invited to lodge a complaint.
An anonymous tip named Grégoire A. as one of those responsible. Then a video interview filmed on a poker site resurfaced. Sitting in an armchair, holding a glass of wine and wearing a striped T-shirt, he described himself as the CEO of a company that had designed between ten and twenty online casinos. This video would become a key element in the case.
He jokes: ‘If I’m in charge of the money, there’s no more company.’
The police infiltrated the platform posing as players. The deposits ended up in a Czech account belonging to a Cypriot company.
The monitored hotline revealed a darker reality: panicked calls, suicide threats. One employee contacts the fire brigade in the south of France, but confesses that she cannot reveal the country she is calling from.
The site has a VIP club reserved for the 5,000 players who pay an entry fee of €2,000. In exchange, they receive luxurious treats: gourmet parcels, champagne and gift cards. On a wiretap, an operator calls an inactive player back:
‘I can give you a bonus if you play again’.
For the investigators, this system reveals a commercial logic comparable to that of physical casinos, but without any legal control.
Another link in the system is based on influencers. Some are paid in proportion to the losses of the players they recruit. One of the most visible, a former lorry driver turned streamer in Malta, claims more than 800,000 subscribers. He promises colossal winnings and claims to have gone from being bankrupt to a millionaire.
International searches
In September 2025, joint operations were carried out in Cyprus, Malta and France. The investigators discovered accounting documents estimating profits of €350 million since 2020.
Above all, they identified other casinos linked to the same group: Jackpot Bob, Lucky8, Casino Privé and Olympe Casino.
The two Frenchmen claim that they are not the real heads of the network. According to them, Scandinavian investors based in Dubai are at the helm. These financiers have already worked for legal online gaming companies in northern Europe.
An industry expert confirms that there are players operating both legally and illegally. He points out that, as early as 2024, a subsidiary of the Kindred group – acquired by La Française des Jeux – was supplying games to Cresus, illustrating the grey areas of a highly fluid global market.
For the moment, no link with organised crime has been established.
Ongoing legal debates
Grégoire A.’s lawyer, Philippe Ohayon, is contesting the classification of the case as a swindle. In his view, it was misused to justify exceptional investigative resources and to facilitate international cooperation.
Investigations are continuing, but the Cresus affair has already exposed a perfectly structured illegal industry capable of targeting an entire country from a sunny office at the other end of Europe.