Russian regulator keeps the pressure on illegal internet gambling

The Russian Internet regulator Roskomnadzor continued to show its teeth this week, communicating with banks to warn them to review and remove illegal (blacklisted) online gambling sites from their systems in order to disrupt financial transactions, and revealing that in the first week of August alone the regulator has imposed ISP blocks on 350 unlawful gambling websites.

The Russian Finance Ministry has also been active, initiating amendments to the law on securities which target gambling activity in the financial markets, and enable the revocation by the Central Bank of professional licenses in the securities market for conduct which is related to gaming.

Our readers may recall that last October the Central Bank revealed that it planned to initiate audits of companies offering unlicensed gambling services under the guise of brokerage transactions.

Roskomnadzor has additionally instructed payment processors Skrill and Yandex to halt transactions with illegal gambling operators.