Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, has ordered the country’s banks to monitor their payment processing systems to make sure they’re cutting off unlicensed Web gambling operators and removing them.
The agency additionally has instructed payment processors Skrill and Yandex to halt transactions with illegal gambling operators.
The moves come after the nation’s Central Bank revealed last fall that it planned to initiate audits of companies offering unlicensed gambling services under the guise of brokerage transactions. The Finance Ministry has since issued amendments to securities laws which target gambling activity in the financial markets and enable the revocation by the Central Bank of professional licenses for activities related to gaming.
In the last two weeks, Roskomnadzor has imposed ISP blocks on 350 unlicensed gambling sites.
