Signed a law to block payment sites, which restricts illegal casinos

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law to block without trial sites that cooperate with casinos that operate without a license. The new regulations limit the activities of illegal gambling organizers.

As part of counteraction to illegal organization and conduct of online lotteries and gambling, FTS (Federal Tax Service) received the authority to decide on the inclusion of the site in the list of banned. The procedure for blocking does not require a court decision. Earlier the restrictions concerned only the organizers themselves, but their effectiveness, according to the authors of the law (the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Alexander Khinstein and the Head of the Committee on Economic Policy Sergey Zhigarev) is minimal.

The law establishes a list of persons for whose benefit transfers are prohibited. Restrictions are introduced for payment agents, cellular and postal operators to carry out financial transactions with business organizers, which are included in the list of illegal.

The law also prohibits entering into contracts with such persons or entities. The Federal Tax Service has given 60 days to terminate the agreements already signed. Information about cases of money transactions involving online casinos or lottery organizers, which operate outside the law, is transferred to the Central Bank.

The official page of the Federal Tax Service shall contain information on the sites that provide money transfer services. A separate list will include foreign vendors and banks engaged in financial transactions in favor of banned sites. In 10 days after the official publication of the law, it will come into force.

Recall that earlier the Russian State Duma considered a bill that provides for administrative fines of up to 500 thousand rubles for officials and not less than 5 million for legal entities for transfers in favor of the organizers of illegal gambling business.