⛔️ Kazakhstan🇰🇿: Banks blocked payment transactions linked to online casinos worth over 10 billion tenge within six months

⛔️ Kazakhstan🇰🇿: Banks blocked payment transactions linked to online casinos worth over 10 billion tenge within six months

The government also introduced a "blacklist" of foreign platforms, covering 110 widely used payment service providers. As a result, money transfers to these services are now blocked.

➡️ Regulatory enforcement overview:

🔣 Since the beginning of 2026, law enforcement authorities have launched 15 criminal investigations covering 40 cases involving the organization of illegal online casinos. As part of these investigations, 11 executives and employees of financial institutions allegedly involved in the schemes have been detained.

🔣 Authorities blocked 1,144 bank cards used as intermediary ("drop") accounts and are currently conducting 10 pre-trial investigations under Article 232-1 of the Criminal Code.

🔣 Approximately 402,000 gambling-related payment transactions have been frozen.

🔣 Access to 62,000 websites promoting gambling activities has been restricted. Of these, 34,000 domains were identified automatically by the Unified Betting and Gambling Accounting System (ESU), while the remainder were blocked following requests from prosecutors and reports submitted by other authorities.

➡️ Unified Betting and Gambling Accounting System:

🔣 Since March 2026, the system has automatically verified whether users are eligible to participate in gambling activities and blocks bets placed by restricted individuals.

🔣 If online casinos or bookmakers fail to connect to the system, they may face sanctions.

➡️ Context: according to social research data, approximately 500 thousand citizens of Kazakhstan regularly participate in gambling activities.

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