Kazakhstan plans to toughen penalties for bloggers advertising online casinos

The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) of Kazakhstan has initiated tougher penalties for bloggers and influencers who promote unlicensed gambling sites. Among the proposals are fines of up to 400% of income received and criminal liability for receiving large profits.

The AFM’s main proposals are as follows:

To introduce a separate article into the Code of Administrative Offenses establishing a fine of 200% to 400% of the income received from advertising (for repeat offenses) + confiscation of profits
Introduce criminal liability for advertising if the income exceeds 1,000 MCI (Monthly Calculation Index) (~$7,300) or if such actions have caused damage to citizens, organizations, or the state.
Toughen penalties for particularly large revenues exceeding 5,000 MCI (~$37,000) or for consequences in the form of serious harm, death, or suicide.
Add aggravating circumstances – liability for committing a crime by a group of persons, repeatedly, or using official position.

It is worth noting that since the beginning of the year, the AFM has identified 37 bloggers involved in advertising gambling platforms. In 18 cases, the materials were sent to the authorized bodies, the amount of fines imposed amounted to $8,100, and in three cases, pre-trial investigations are underway. The agency noted that some of the violators ‘systematically ignore the law.’

Currently, advertising prohibited gambling sites is punishable only by an administrative fine ranging from 60 to 400 MCI (from $440 to $2,800).

However, according to the AFM, such measures do not correspond to the scale of profits received from advertising unlicensed casinos and do not deter violators.

The draft amendments have already been sent to the Ministry of Justice for discussion by a working group. The presidential administration has supported the initiative as a whole, and joint refinement of the document with the participation of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice should be completed by the end of the year.