Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security exposed an organized group that operated a network of illegal online casinos: the amount of illegally obtained funds, according to law enforcement officials, exceeds UAH 5 billion.
Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security exposed an organized group that operated a network of illegal online casinos: the amount of illegally obtained funds, according to law enforcement officials, exceeds UAH 5 billion.
According to the BEB press service, the group consisted of 10 people, including two citizens of the Russian Federation and eight citizens of Ukraine.
«The perpetrators created and administered a network of web resources through which users gained access to online casinos without an appropriate license. For stable operation, they involved controlled IT companies that provided technical support for the sites, their uninterrupted operation, and updates,» the BEB noted.
At the same time, to mask the activities, foreign companies were reportedly used, through which payments were formally accepted and services were provided.
Users paid for gambling in cryptocurrency and stablecoins (USDT).
«Initially, these funds were deposited into the accounts of a company registered in Estonia, after which they were redistributed among other controlled non-resident enterprises, in particular in the jurisdiction of Curacao. Such a multi-level scheme made it possible to hide the source of the funds and avoid financial monitoring,» law enforcement officials claim.
As dev.ua reported, PlayCity revoked the license of the Cosmolot online casino due to the use of p2p payments.
According to Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Natalya Denikeeva, there are currently almost 15,000 people on the register of gaming addicts, but the Ministry of Digital Affairs admits that this is only a small part of those citizens who truly have a gaming addiction.
