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Russian authorities are now targeting payment providers as part of their war with unregulated online gambling.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor put two payment processors Qiwi and Skrill on the list of banned web sites.
Russian authorities are now targeting payment providers as part of their war with unregulated online gambling.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor put two payment processors Qiwi and Skrill on the list of banned web sites. Both companies were accused of violating Russian gaming laws by processing online gambling payments and of containing links within their sites to unlicensed operators.
Skrill is popular among European online gamblers while Qiwi primarily operates in Russia and Eastern European countries.
Skrill and Qiwi were granted a 24-hour grace period to remove links to unauthorised Russian gambling sites and to cease processing payments for those sites in order to avoid being on the list of banned websites.
Roskomnadzor said that the only legal payment provider to process payments for Russian online gambling operators is TSUPIS. Since its launch in February 2016, it has been the country’s first payment processor for interactive betting, which processed the first fully legal online sports bet for its first licensed online bookmaker.
Since September 2015, Roskomnadzor has been ordering domestic internet service providers to block online gambling sites, including everything from unregulated Russian sportsbooks to well-known Western brands.
