The authorities of Kazakhstan have liquidated the country's largest network of illegal online casinos, which operated under the guise of lottery clubs.
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Internal Affairs said law enforcement officers searched 570 lottery clubs across the country. During the operation, over twenty weapons were seized, as well as documents, computers and mobile phones.
Police also report the seizure of 247 million Kazakhstani tenge ($545,811), 55 million Russian rubles ($614,380) and $125,000 in cash.
As a result of the operation, 326 lottery clubs were closed across the country. In addition, law enforcement officers identified and blocked servers that transmitted online casino broadcasts from abroad to Kazakhstan.
The targets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Security Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office were “representatives of criminals who exerted criminal influence and patronage of gambling establishments.”
The suspects “committed crimes against employees and clients of lotto clubs,” and security officers and administrators organized a wide range of services for VIP clients, including “pandering and drug use.”
“During the special operation, over four hundred people were brought to the police,” said Kuandyk Alpys, head of the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Among those detained are eight main organizers of the criminal scheme, including citizens of near and far abroad.
The Kazakh authorities attribute the emergence of the illegal network to the “wave of gambling addiction” that recently hit the country - this is a pathological addiction to gambling, which, according to officials, leads to a decrease in social and material values in the Central Asian country.
According to government officials, due to gambling addiction in Kazakhstan, cases of divorce and various offenses have become more frequent; Gamblers often decide to commit suicide.
Referring to official statistics, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that there are more than 350 thousand gambling addicts in the country, the average debt of each of them is about ten million tenge ($22,098). The statement noted that gambling addiction has become an important social problem that the government intends to combat.
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Internal Affairs said law enforcement officers searched 570 lottery clubs across the country. During the operation, over twenty weapons were seized, as well as documents, computers and mobile phones.
Police also report the seizure of 247 million Kazakhstani tenge ($545,811), 55 million Russian rubles ($614,380) and $125,000 in cash.
As a result of the operation, 326 lottery clubs were closed across the country. In addition, law enforcement officers identified and blocked servers that transmitted online casino broadcasts from abroad to Kazakhstan.
The targets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Security Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office were “representatives of criminals who exerted criminal influence and patronage of gambling establishments.”
The suspects “committed crimes against employees and clients of lotto clubs,” and security officers and administrators organized a wide range of services for VIP clients, including “pandering and drug use.”
“During the special operation, over four hundred people were brought to the police,” said Kuandyk Alpys, head of the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Among those detained are eight main organizers of the criminal scheme, including citizens of near and far abroad.
The Kazakh authorities attribute the emergence of the illegal network to the “wave of gambling addiction” that recently hit the country - this is a pathological addiction to gambling, which, according to officials, leads to a decrease in social and material values in the Central Asian country.
According to government officials, due to gambling addiction in Kazakhstan, cases of divorce and various offenses have become more frequent; Gamblers often decide to commit suicide.
Referring to official statistics, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that there are more than 350 thousand gambling addicts in the country, the average debt of each of them is about ten million tenge ($22,098). The statement noted that gambling addiction has become an important social problem that the government intends to combat.
