The Central Bank argued with Rosfinmonitoring and Roskomnadzor about methods of blocking online casino payments

Stop listening

The State Duma in June 2021 adopted a law (355-FZ), giving The Federal Tax Service (FTS) has the right to block without trial the websites of payment organizations, through which players transfer money to illegal online casinos and lotteries. The purpose of the innovation is to limit the transfer of citizens’ money in favor of the organizers of illegal online casinos and lotteries. There should be a “black list” of foreign banks and foreign payment systems that Russians use to transfer money in favor of organizers of gambling and lotteries banned in Russia. The new register should be maintained by the Federal Tax Service. Until it works.

Prior to the adoption of the amendments, Russian banks were not prohibited from transferring money from accounts and electronic wallets of Russian citizens to foreign payment organizations. And the latter could transfer funds to online casinos and lotteries. According to the new law, the bank must refuse to make such payments if the addressee is included in the list of the Federal Tax Service.

The Federal Tax Service explains that until the relevant regulations are adopted, the lists will be published on the tax website.

“Regulatory legal acts of the Federal Tax Service and the Bank of Russia, which are being developed in pursuance of 355-FZ, are not currently approved, therefore the “List of foreign persons making transfers in favor of illegal organizers of gambling”, as well as the “List of foreign banks” will be posted on the official website of the Federal Tax Service (www.nalog.ru) after the adoption of the relevant regulatory legal acts, ”the press service of the service told Gazeta.Ru.

While these lists are not available, banks need access to the Unified Register of Domain Names , which generates Roskomnadzor. This list includes the addresses of companies whose activities are prohibited in Russia, including online casinos. In 2019, Roskomnadzor reported that it had blacklisted more than 30,000 resources with casino ads or virtual slot machines. These are the most recent statistics.

Three Offices – three options

In order to eliminate the problem, the Central Bank , Rosfinmonitoring and Roskomnadzor should agree on the parameters of credit institutions’ access to the register. Gazeta.Ru managed to find out the positions of all three parties.

The press service of Rosfinmonitoring told Gazeta.Ru that now the registry allows banks to receive information only in the “request- -answer”, which entails labor and time costs, as well as complicating the procedure for due diligence of the client. Accordingly, credit institutions have difficulties with the execution of 115-FZ: they cannot automatically check customer sites in the registry. The Central Bank, realizing the problem, postponed fines for banks for non-compliance with the law until April 1, 2022.

« The Bank of Russia supports the need to provide banks with direct access to the registry, – told in the press service of the Central Bank

. — Now Roskomnadzor, Rosfinmonitoring and the Bank of Russia are doing such joint work. Providing direct access will automate the work with the registry.”

For expanding the capabilities of credit institutions act also in Rosfinmonitoring, offering their own version.

“For the timely and high-quality fulfillment of the requirements of the national anti-money laundering legislation, one of the best options is the ability to download the register: banks should be able to download list in their information systems, ”said the representatives of the financial intelligence.

U Roskomnadzor other position. The agency advocates partial access for credit institutions to the list – “access only to part of the information relating to banks,” a source familiar with the situation told Gazeta.Ru. The press service of Roskomnadzor reported that they did not comment on the topic.

“The winnings from illegal online casinos will be blocked, otherwise the Russians will not suffer”

Deputy Chairman of the National Financial Market Council (NSFR) Alexander Naumov told Gazeta.Ru that banks’ direct access to the register would be useful. Although only large players with a strong IT direction are capable of processing it without commercial services, he added. For the rest, even now there are commercial services that allow automating the verification procedure, the source of Gazeta.Ru emphasized.

“The law requires credit institutions to check not only customers, but also counterparties in operations, the expert explained. – It will be possible to carry out such control if the bank has access to the register and an automated solution for working with it. At the same time, citizens, if they do not transfer money to illegal online casinos and do not pay for the services of organizations blocked by Roskomnadzor, will not suffer in any way. Otherwise, the bank may already now refuse to conduct such transactions for Russians: in the absence of access to the register, banks use commercial solutions to verify customers and counterparties. Law 355-FZ applies only to the operation: the money on the account of Russians who decide to transfer money is not blocked in any way.

“Perform another legal operation, and everything will be in order. Refusal – only in the transfer in favor of an illegal online casino or a payment service provider serving such an illegal casino, the expert explained. – When receiving winnings from an illegal online casino, the payout in Russia may also be blocked.

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