The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has, for the first time in a long while, systematically struck at payment companies linked to shadow casinos, while Belarus has extradited the organiser of an illegal gambling business and is preparing new restrictions on gambling advertising. It would appear that CIS countries are, step by step, closing off the channels through which the money of illegal casinos flows. And the more such loopholes are shut, the faster the shadowy stream moves on – from one jurisdiction to another, in search of the next weak point.
WHY THE NATIONAL BANK HAS TAKEN ON PAYMENT PROVIDERS IN KYRGYZSTAN
Since the start of 2026, the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has issued payment system operators and payment organisations 33 fines totalling 1.8 million soms (around 9.5 million tenge) and has revoked the licences of four legal entities. Over this period, the regulator carried out 17 inspector checks, following which companies were sent 149 orders and issued 28 fines totalling 1.5 million soms (roughly 7.9 million tenge), and also took part in inspections of five commercial banks regarding the operation of payment systems.
As part of external oversight, operators were sent a further 48 orders, commercial banks two, and an additional five fines totalling 275,000 soms (about 1.5 million tenge) were imposed. The Telegram channel "Payment Shield in the CIS" notes that payment companies in Kyrgyzstan had long felt relatively free, since regulatory oversight was not overly strict, yet it was convenient and quick to move money through local payment systems.
According to that same channel, the tightening of control in Kyrgyzstan is linked less to internal market dynamics and more to how the routes of grey funds are changing across the CIS. Following the launch in Russia of the "Antidrop" system, which allows information on suspicious transactions by individuals to be transmitted to banks, shadowy flows have begun spilling over into neighbouring jurisdictions. Kazakhstan has already stepped up control, and Uzbekistan in under a year has blocked nearly 19,000 cards and stopped the withdrawal of $2.4 billion (around 1.1 trillion tenge).
Kyrgyzstan remained one of the last convenient corridors for transiting casino and cash-out money through local wallets and payment gateways. Now the National Bank has begun closing that route too.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BELARUS
On 5 August, in Minsk, criminal investigation officers detained a 41-year-old Mongolian citizen, placed on the international wanted list by Mongolian law enforcement authorities for the illegal organisation of gambling as part of an organised group. On 12 August, the extradition procedure took place at Minsk National Airport. In Mongolia, he faces a sentence of imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million tugriks (around 6.5 million tenge).
WHAT MINSK HAS IN STORE FOR GAMBLING ADVERTISING
In parallel, the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) of Belarus has announced that it is preparing additional restrictions on the placement and distribution of advertising for gambling establishments and games of chance. However, the list of new restrictions and the timeline for introducing them into law was not disclosed by MART to the applicant.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CIS COUNTRIES
Similar developments have been unfolding across the wider region in recent months. In Kazakhstan, the Pin-Up online casino case is actively progressing, where a billion-strong infrastructure ran through a network of affiliated companies – including Bonami LLP, which obtained a bookmaking licence – and part of the funds was subsequently converted into cryptocurrency via the Intebix exchange and withdrawn abroad.
In Ukraine, on a related episode, a court seized the property and accounts of an individual suspected of large-scale tax evasion, the illegal organisation of gambling and the legalisation of criminal proceeds – among the clients of his scheme, the investigation names operators linked to the Pin-Up brand.
Meanwhile, in Baku, five organisers of the underground payment office AzeCash were detained. According to the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs, payments for clients of the country's banned bookmakers 1xBet and Mostbet flowed through a rented flat in the Khatai district and the office's Telegram channel, with a turnover of around 10 million manats, or 2.7 billion tenge.
