Chapter 8: Canadian Casino Enablers Hall of Shame
- recoverwithsara
- May 19
- 13 min read
Updated: May 20
Entry One: Ron Mendelson, Fast Offshore, and the Anjouan Licence Machine
Fuck, I love my country.
That is probably why this one makes me so mad.
Because I am not sitting here cheering for offshore chaos. I am not rooting against regulation. I am not mad that Ontario has rules. I am mad because the rules are supposed to mean something.
Canada’s gambling framework is not supposed to be decorative. Under section 207 of the Criminal Code, gambling is generally prohibited unless it falls within specific legal exceptions, including the provincial conduct-and-manage model. In Ontario, the whole point of the regulated iGaming market is supposed to be accountability, registration, oversight, consumer protection, responsible gambling, and actual consequences.
Then you look offshore.
The licence badges. The mystery merchants. The foreign processors. The “Canadian-friendly” casino pages. The CAD deposits. The payment routes. The corporate structures. The consultants. The “we can get you licenced fast” crowd.
Suddenly the question is not just...
Why are offshore casinos screwing over Canadians?
The better, uglier question is...
Who is helping them do it?
That is where I have been struggling.
Because one version of this story is offshore operators taking money from Canadians while standing outside the Canadian framework.
But the other version is worse.
It is Canadians, or Canadian-linked professionals, helping build the offshore machinery that lets other Canadians get pulled into it.
That has a special stink to it.
So I built a new article tag on this site called....
Canadian Casino Enablers Hall of Shame
This is not anti-Canada.
This is very Canada. Look up Ice Storm 1998 in Ottawa Canadian.
It is loving your country enough to say the quiet part out loud. It is believing consumer protection should mean something. It is believing a regulated market should not be treated like a theatre set while offshore operators and their enablers sell Canadians the costume version of compliance.
This tag is not for every Canadian who works in gambling.
It is not for legitimate operators playing by Canadian rules.
It is not for people building properly regulated businesses in Ontario or any other province.
No.
This tag is for something narrower.
The licence promoters.
The payment-adjacent fixers.
The offshore consultants.
The corporate-structure people.
The affiliate machinery.
The people selling operators the appearance of legitimacy while consumers are left trying to figure out whether the regulator on a casino footer is real, fake, asleep, imaginary, or just a logo with a contact form.
Today’s first inductee is, drum roll please....:
Ron Mendelson.
Also found in public records and reporting as Roni Zvi Mendelson, Ron Zvi Mendelson, and Roni Mendelson. The British Columbia regulator’s 2007 order identifies him as “RON ZVI MENDELSON also known as RONI MENDELSON”, describing him as the director and controlling mind of Payzilla/Virtu-Pay.
For legal purposes, POS means Person of Scrutiny.
For emotional purposes, readers may consult their own preference for the acronym POS and use their better judgement. 💩. Yes I just used that emoji but I am not a journalist right, I'm a citizen with a consumer concern of important public interest.
Here is the public record. Not some imagined record, what is out there publicly.
Ron/Roni Mendelson has a documented Canadian corporate and regulatory footprint, including a British Columbia financial regulator cease-and-desist order involving unauthorized deposit business. Years later, he appears publicly as the Canadian figure behind Fast Offshore, a Costa Rica-based offshore-services firm promoting Anjouan iGaming licences.
That is not as funny as Mounties.
But it is sourced.
The Canadian business record: Payzilla Technologies Inc.
The Canadian registry trail starts with Payzilla Technologies INC.
Public corporation-directory records show Payzilla Technologies INC. was incorporated federally in Canada on January 16, 2007, with corporation number 6703798 and business number 829328566RC0001. The listed office was 1200 West 73rd Avenue, Suite 1100, Vancouver, BC V6P 6G5, and the listed director was Roni Mendelson. The corporation was later dissolved for non-compliance on September 27, 2011.
A dissolution for non-compliance does not automatically mean fraud. In Canada, companies can be dissolved for failing to keep up with required filings or corporate obligations.
But Payzilla matters because it was not just a dormant name in a registry.
It was also named in a British Columbia financial regulator order.
The 2007 British Columbia cease-and-desist order
On October 9, 2007, British Columbia’s financial regulator issued an order involving Payzilla Technologies Inc., Virtu-Pay.com S.A., Virtu-Pay.com S.A. doing business as Virtu-Pay, and Ron Zvi Mendelson also known as Roni Mendelson. The order directed them to cease from directly or indirectly carrying on unauthorized deposit business in British Columbia.
BCFSA’s public decisions page still lists the matter under unauthorized deposit business decisions.
This is the part that matters.
The order did not just say, “Please update your paperwork.”
It was about unauthorized deposit business.
The regulator described Payzilla’s website as representing that it dealt with prepaid debit cards, merchant accounts, international processing, high-risk businesses, online gaming, online pharmacy, adult content, private bank/offshore credit-union programs, and payment solutions. The regulator also warned that selling debit cards outside the regulated financial-services industry could allow unidentified persons access to Canadian or foreign financial systems, putting the reputation and safety of British Columbia, Canadian, and international financial industries at risk.
Read that again.
Prepaid debit cards.
Merchant accounts.
International processing.
High-risk businesses.
Online gaming.
Private bank/offshore credit-union programs.
Payment solutions.
That is not random background noise.
That is the plumbing.
Years later, Fast Offshore’s public marketing lives in a very familiar neighbourhood: offshore incorporation, iGaming licensing, banking readiness, merchant accounts, crypto, corporate structuring, and regulatory presentation.
Different decade.
Same kind of pipework.
The older SEC footprint: Le Club Privé and Rishon Bank
There is also an older U.S. regulatory history.
In August 2000, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a litigation release naming Ron Zvi Mendelson in a civil enforcement action involving Le Club Privé, which the SEC described as an alleged fraudulent internet pyramid scheme disguised as an investment club. The same matter also named entities including Rishon Bank, Rishon Financial Services, and related entities as relief defendants.
Important fairness note: this was a civil action and allegations. Play the Game later reported that the SEC action against Mendelson and Rishon Bank was dismissed, so this should not be written as a conviction or final finding against him.
Still, as public history, it belongs in the timeline. So I'm just going to put this in the parking lot, of your mind, ok.. because again, the neighbourhood (by the way this is the Canadian spelling, look it up) is familiar: offshore finance, internet money, bank-like entities, and regulatory attention.
From Vancouver to Costa Rica
Play the Game identifies Roni Zvi Mendelson, also known as Ron Mendelson, as a Canadian entrepreneur from Vancouver who moved to Costa Rica in the late 1990s. It reports that he became principal of Offshore Secrets Network, later morphing into Offshore Xplorer, before becoming associated with Fast Offshore.
So no, the public record does not show a Mountie chase.
It shows something less cartoonish and more useful:
Canadian roots.
Offshore finance.
Payment-adjacent activity.
A BC regulator order.
Costa Rica.
Offshore services.
Then the modern Anjouan licence boom.
That is the public trail.
The newer Canadian corporation: Bridlewood Advisory Services Inc.
There is also a more recent Canadian registry footprint.
Corporations Canada lists Bridlewood Advisory Services Inc., corporation number 1572058-3, incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act on January 25, 2024. The official federal record shows the company was dissolved by the corporation on August 16, 2024.
The record lists Roni Zvi Mendelson as director and an individual with significant control. Public corporation summaries also show the registered office at 200, 2099 - 152 Street, Surrey, BC V4A 4N7.
So the Canadian business registry footprint includes at least:
Payzilla Technologies INC.Corporation number: 6703798Incorporated: January 16, 2007Director: Roni MendelsonStatus: Dissolved for non-compliance, September 27, 2011
Bridlewood Advisory Services Inc.Corporation number: 1572058-3Incorporated: January 25, 2024Director / individual with significant control: Roni Zvi MendelsonStatus: Dissolved by the corporation, August 16, 2024Full URL: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/cc/lgcy/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=15720583
That is public information.
That is not me “doxxing.”😇
That is the registry.
Fast Offshore: what the company says it does
Fast Offshore presents itself as an offshore services consultancy working in areas including iGaming licensing, company formation, offshore banking, merchant accounts, fintech, blockchain, crypto, M&A advisory, and corporate structuring. Industry articles identify Ron Mendelson as the director of the Costa Rica-based consultancy Fast Offshore, with experience in iGaming licensing, payments, regulatory compliance, tax-efficient corporate structuring, hedge fund licences, blockchain, and cryptocurrency-related services.
This is why he matters.
He is not just a random Canadian name in an old registry.
He is publicly active in the exact zone offshore gambling operators need:
Licences.
Companies.
Banking.
Payments.
Merchant accounts.
Credibility.
The costume department of offshore gambling.
The Anjouan angle: the badge factory
Now we get to Anjouan.
Anjouan is one of the islands in the Union of the Comoros. In offshore iGaming marketing, it has been promoted as a fast, low-cost, flexible licensing jurisdiction for online casino operators.
Fast Offshore has published or promoted industry content describing Anjouan as one of the lowest-cost, quickest, and most versatile iGaming licensing options. Yogonet published a Q&A by Ron Mendelson/Fast Offshore presenting the Anjouan iGaming licence as a low-cost, quick licensing route for operators.
Another Yogonet article, curated by Fast Offshore, described Anjouan as a streamlined and accessible licensing jurisdiction preferred by many online gaming operators.
That is the sales pitch.
Fast.
Cheap.
Flexible.
Operator-friendly.
But then comes the problem.
ABC News reported that local authorities in the Comoros described Anjouan-linked regulators as “fictitious entities” operating illegally. ABC reported that the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority originated during Anjouan’s separatist period, but that after reunification, banking laws passed in 2013 and 2015 stripped it of recognized regulatory status. Despite that, ABC reported that the licensing structures continued to sign up banks, brokers, insurance companies, crypto businesses, and gambling sites.
ABC also reported that Anjouan Licensing Services appeared in 2023, connected to domain registrations for a supposed gaming regulator and a licence-selling website. According to ABC, Anjouan Licensing Services claimed to have issued more than 1,300 gambling licences, at around €17,000 per licence per year, meaning the operation could potentially generate up to €22 million annually. ABC further reported that domain-registration records showed the websites were set up by a Costa Rican company, Fast Offshore, then called Overseas Business Services Ltd, run by Canadian Ron Mendelson.
Let that cook in your brain for a hot minute...🍳
A Canadian-linked offshore-services firm.
A Costa Rica base.
A tiny island licence structure.
More than 1,300 claimed gambling licences.
A reported possible €22 million annual licence-fee machine.
And consumers being told to trust a badge.
That is why I call it a badge factory.
The wider reporting problem: this is not just one blog being dramatic
This is not just me on a deck in Canada, eh... with my feet on a railing, looking at a lake, deciding to yell at the internet.
Although, yes, that is also happening.
Play the Game published an investigation calling Mendelson “the great enabler of Anjouan’s offshore licensing system,” describing him as a Canadian entrepreneur who built a central role in the fast-growing offshore licensing market. It frames the broader issue as licensing bodies in small and poorer countries being controlled or driven by foreign intermediaries, often Westerners.
Le Monde also reported on Anjouan’s online casino ecosystem, describing the promotional façade around Anjouan licensing and the lack of meaningful protection compared with European regulatory standards. Le Monde reported that France’s gambling regulator considers online casinos operating from Anjouan prohibited in France, and that the supposed Anjouan gambling-regulatory world does not withstand scrutiny, with private-company involvement behind the appearance of regulation.
So when I say this is a consumer-protection issue, I am not pulling that out of thin air.
The concern is simple:
A gambling operator gets a questionable licence.
The licence creates the appearance of regulation.
The appearance helps open payment channels, affiliate campaigns, software supply, and player trust.
The player sees “licenced” and thinks someone is watching the store.
But if the regulator is fictitious, private, powerless, disputed, or legally meaningless, the player is not protected.
They are just reassured.
And reassurance without protection is marketing.
What is to gain?
Let’s be careful here.
I cannot say what Ron Mendelson personally intended.
I cannot say he set out to harm Canadians.
I cannot say what was in his head.
But we can talk about business incentives.
Fast Offshore markets services around offshore company formation, banking, merchant accounts, iGaming licensing, crypto, regulatory compliance, and corporate structuring.
Anjouan has been marketed by Fast Offshore and industry articles as fast, low-cost, flexible, and attractive to online gambling operators.
ABC reported a claimed 1,300-plus licences and a possible licence-fee machine worth up to €22 million annually.
So what is to gain?
Money.
Access.
Influence.
A pipeline of operators who need paper.
A position in the middle of an offshore licensing boom.
And maybe most importantly:
The ability to sell credibility. Just like the seal on my website footer right. LOL. Credible.
Offshore casinos do not just need a website.
They need a story.
They need a jurisdiction.
They need a company.
They need a badge.
They need a licence number.
They need the sentence: “We are licenced.”
That sentence is valuable.
And if you help operators obtain that sentence, you are not just doing paperwork.
You are helping build the costume.
Why this matters to Canadians
This is where I want my fellow Canadians to really pay attention.
When an offshore casino targets Canadians, the player sees the front end:
The website.
The bonus.
The CAD language.
The “Canada-friendly” page.
The Interac-looking or card-looking payment route.
The licence badge.
The “responsible gambling” footer.
The support chat with dead-inside energy.
What the player does not see is the back end:
The corporate-service provider.
The licensing consultant.
The domain history.
The real regulator, if there is one.
The payment processor.
The merchant descriptor.
The jurisdictional loophole.
The question of whether the licence is recognized by the sovereign state or just sold through a private arrangement wearing official-looking clothes.
That is the machine.
And Canadians are not just potential victims of that machine.
Sometimes Canadians help build it.
That is why this tag exists.
Because if offshore operators are pulling Canadian players into websites that sit outside our legal consumer-protection framework, we should be asking more than, “Which casino did this?”
We should be asking:
Who licenced them?
Who advised them?
Who processed them?
Who promoted them?
Who gave them the credibility badge?
Who helped them look safer than they were?
And if a Canadian helped build the tunnel around the spirit of Canadian gambling law, that Canadian deserves public scrutiny.
The “not all Canadians” paragraph for the easily offended
Let’s get this out of the way.
This is not me saying every Canadian in gambling is bad.
This is not me saying every offshore-services person is a criminal.
This is not me saying every Anjouan-linked business is identical.
This is not me saying a civil allegation is a conviction.
This is not me saying a corporate dissolution automatically means fraud.
This is not me saying Ron Mendelson was chased out of Canada by Mounties.
What I am saying is this:
The public record shows Ron/Roni Mendelson has a Canadian corporate and regulatory footprint, including Payzilla Technologies Inc., a BC cease-and-desist order involving unauthorized deposit business, and a later public role through Fast Offshore in promoting offshore iGaming licensing, including Anjouan.
That is enough for scrutiny.
That is enough for questions.
That is enough for the Canadian Casino Enablers Hall of Shame.
The public timeline
Here is the cleaner timeline.
Late 1990s
Play the Game reports that Roni Zvi Mendelson, a Canadian from Vancouver, moved to Costa Rica and became principal of Offshore Secrets Network, later Offshore Xplorer.Full URL: https://www.playthegame.org/news/the-great-enabler-of-anjouan-s-offshore-licensing-system/
August 2000
The SEC named Ron Zvi Mendelson in the Le Club Privé civil enforcement matter involving an alleged fraudulent internet pyramid scheme. Reporting indicates claims against Mendelson/Rishon Bank were later dismissed, so this remains historical allegation context, not a conviction.Full URL: https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-16665
January 16, 2007
Payzilla Technologies INC. was incorporated federally in Canada, with Roni Mendelson listed as director.Full URL: https://www.canadacompanyregistry.com/companies/payzilla-technologies-inc/
October 9, 2007
British Columbia’s financial regulator issued a cease-and-desist order against Payzilla, Virtu-Pay, and Ron Zvi Mendelson also known as Roni Mendelson, ordering them to stop unauthorized deposit business in British Columbia.Full URL: https://www.bcfsa.ca/media/349/download
September 27, 2011
Payzilla Technologies INC. was dissolved for non-compliance.Full URL: https://www.canadacompanyregistry.com/companies/payzilla-technologies-inc/
January 25, 2024
Bridlewood Advisory Services Inc. was incorporated federally in Canada, with Roni Zvi Mendelson listed as director and individual with significant control.Full URL: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/cc/lgcy/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=15720583
August 16, 2024
Bridlewood Advisory Services Inc. was dissolved by the corporation.Full URL: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/cc/lgcy/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=15720583
2024 to 2026
Fast Offshore and Ron Mendelson appear repeatedly in public iGaming-industry content promoting Anjouan licensing as fast, flexible, low-cost, and operator-friendly.Full URLs:https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2024/09/20/79211-anjouan-gaming-licences-a-comprehensive-overviewhttps://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2025/04/22/102307-fast-offshore-shares-anjouan-igaming-licence-qahttps://www.yogonet.com/international/columns/52-ron-mendelson
December 2025 and onwards
ABC News, Play the Game, and Le Monde report on the Anjouan licensing ecosystem, raising serious questions about fake or disputed regulatory structures, offshore casino licensing, private intermediaries, and consumer-protection risks.Full URLs:https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-31/fake-gambling-licences-anjouan-casinos/106158766https://www.playthegame.org/news/the-great-enabler-of-anjouan-s-offshore-licensing-system/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2026/02/04/how-france-s-lottery-operator-fuels-the-toxic-online-casino-ecosystem-in-the-comoros_6750148_8.html
The consumer translation
Here is what all of that means in plain English.
A Canadian businessman with a public history in offshore finance, payment-adjacent services, and a BC unauthorized deposit-business order now appears in the modern offshore iGaming licensing world through Fast Offshore.
Fast Offshore promotes licensing pathways like Anjouan.
Anjouan has been marketed to gambling operators as fast, cheap, and flexible.
Investigative reporting and official-source references raise serious questions about whether parts of the Anjouan licensing ecosystem have real lawful authority.
Offshore casinos use licences to look legitimate.
Payment systems and affiliates may rely on those badges.
Consumers may be misled by the appearance of regulation.
And Canadians may be among the people harmed.
That is the story.
Not a conspiracy board.
Not a tantrum.
A public record.
A business model.
A consumer-protection problem.
The part that makes me furious
I love Canada.
That is why this pisses me off.
I am not mad because Canada has rules. I am mad because offshore operators and their enablers seem very comfortable testing the edges of those rules, routing around them, or selling paper that makes the whole thing look safer than it is.
The closing
So no, I cannot say Ron Mendelson was chased out of Canada by Mounties.
Ron Mendelson did three public-record things that matter here:
1. His firm was reportedly tied to the setup of the modern Anjouan gambling-licence web infrastructure. ABC reported that Anjouan Licensing Services appeared in May 2023 by registering two domain names on consecutive days: one for a supposed gambling regulator called the Anjouan Gaming Control Board, and another, anjouangaming.com, that sold gambling licences. ABC says domain records showed both websites were set up by a Costa Rican company, Fast Offshore, then called Overseas Business Services Ltd, run by Canadian Ron Mendelson.
2. He/Fast Offshore promoted Anjouan licences to gambling operators. Fast Offshore and Ron Mendelson appear in industry articles marketing Anjouan as a cheap, fast, flexible iGaming licence option. One Casino City Times piece says Fast Offshore’s Ron Mendelson explains why Anjouan is the “lowest-cost, quickest, and most versatile” iGaming licensing option in 2025. Yogonet also published a Fast Offshore/Ron Mendelson Q&A about the benefits, process, and common questions around getting an Anjouan iGaming licence.
3. He was named by investigators as an enabler, not just a random promoter. Play the Game describes him as a Canadian entrepreneur who “built a central role” in the fast-growing offshore licensing market and frames him as an example of foreign intermediaries controlling or powering licensing bodies in small jurisdictions. ABC also reported that Fast Offshore assists companies applying for gambling licences in several jurisdictions, including Anjouan.
Because when offshore casinos screw over Canadians, that is one kind of problem.
When Canadians help build the offshore machinery that lets other Canadians get pulled into it, that is another.
That is not just offshore bullshit.
That is export-grade Canadian bullshit.
Full send, eh.
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