Ukraine is on the offensive once again with the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s General Office launching a new investigation into online gambling platforms that have been operating illegally and are tied to Russia.

At the onset of the 2022 war, which Russia declared on its neighbor, Ukraine sought to stem the tide of cash outflow that could be fueling the aggressor’s warm machine.

Gambling sites with ties to the Russian Federation were an immediate target of Ukrainian efforts to root out illegal gambling in the country, and the latest identified but unnamed websites are among those.

Gambling Is Important for Ukraine’s National Security

Parimatch, a prominent platform, was mistakenly caught in the crossfire. Luckily, Parimatch was removed from the Presidential list of banned gambling companies later on. The new allegations levelled against Russian-based individuals and illegal platforms though will stay.

Ukraine has not shied away from levelling accusations against individual operators, and most recently in February, the country went after Cosmolot, accusing the platform of tax evasion.

The Office also outlined some of the steps that have already been taken to combat illegal gambling in the country with more than 2,500 illegal gambling sites blocked since last year, as reported previously. Right now, 450 criminal offenses are related to illegal gambling as well.

Gambling Encroaching on Military Capabilities

The country is also going after individuals whom it suspects of wrongdoing related to illegal gambling. Meanwhile, the military has had its fair share of problems with gambling and gambling-related harm.

Apart from undermining the country’s war-waging capabilities, gambling within the army has also taken a toll on the mental health of soldiers.

The Verkhovna Rada has now issued a ban on gambling in the army, with lawmakers worried about the problem as well and how it might reflect on the battlefield. Efforts to curb the spreading of illegal and irresponsible gambling have been well underway.

In the meantime, the country has also benefited from the regulated gambling sector, with online gambling outpacing expectations and generating a steady stream of tax revenue for the state coffers.

All of this is happening at a time of intensified interest in the gambling market in Ukraine. So much so that the country approved 150 new licenses in early April. Yet, there have been some headwinds as well, including the proposed dissolution of the state regulator, KRAIL, which has been deemed unfit to carry out its duties.

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According to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, “further work” was needed to be absolutely sure that no bank, payment company, or building has closed down someone’s bank account primarily because of their political views. 

Primary Findings Flesh out the Case

The conduct regulator of close to 50,000 companies aimed at ensuring all financial markets are “honest, competitive, and fair” has completed its initial data exercise on bank account access and closure based on information collected “at speed” between July 2022 and June 2023.

The most common arguments bank service providers offered for shutting down, suspending, or declining accounts were account inactivity/sleeping accounts and concerns related to financial crimes.

The initial probe was launched as a response to a scandal revolving around controversial politician Nigel Farage who had his bank account shut down by Coutts, a reputable banking company that provides private banking and wealth management services.

The watchdog concluded more work was needed to assess the information and effectively address the current gaps shown in the data. An international perspective on the closure of bank accounts has also been published by the same institution.

Over the years, certain UK banks have been known to close the accounts of clients who were involved in gambling activities, as a result of the associated anti-money laundering risks and obligations that were perceived as being higher.

What the FCA Will Focus On Next

According to an open letter written as a response to the Gamblers Consumer Forum’s query on individuals and businesses who have lost access to their bank account because of gambling transactions or ties to the gambling industry, the financial watchdog implied its further investigation would include this topic as well. 

Additionally, the follow-up of their initial review would also be aimed at making sure that all the data that has been reported to them has been accurate, with special emphasis on outlier firms.

More supervisory work would also be needed to check companies’ conclusions on those accounts that they have closed based on certain political views. More assessments of accounts closed for reputational risk-connected arguments would also be necessary, as announced by the FCA.

The watchdog would also look into standard bank account applications and terminations that had been declined, as well as the reasons why 1.1 million in the UK were currently “unbanked”, along with studying the main characteristics of the said population.

Chief executive Rathi further commented that a critical question for policymakers was whether all “individuals, businesses, and organizations” should benefit from the right to own a bank account, similar to other countries. 

Finally, the follow-up would also aim to engage with consumer groups and organizations and get a deeper understanding of their own experiences and of the impact of having their bank account terminated, declined, or suspended. 

In April 2022, the FCA seized £2 million ($2.60 million) from QPay Europe because of the money being connected to a $150 million bank fraud that unfolded in the US.

At the start of 2023, the financial watchdog gave Trustly, an international payment platform for digital account-to-account transactions, the green light to acquire Ecospend, a UK-based open banking platform for payments. 

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The Mafiosi now on the lam is identified as one Marco Raduano, aged 39, and leader of the Sacra Corona Unita group. He was brought on charges of drug trafficking on top of a litany of other previous accusations, including gambling, extortion, and prostitution, and sentenced to 19 years in prison back in 2018.

Still, Raduano decided to cut his release date from 2046 to 2023. Raduano had managed to tie together enough bedsheets to slide down the wall of his prison cell in what prison cameras captured was a Hollywood-like escape act.

Sheets Make Good Bedfellows

The man, who is still missing, is known for his brutality and association with a criminal group that has been a major headache for authorities. What Sacra Corona Unita lacks in awareness among the broader population, though, it more for makes up in brutality that matches the operations of more notorious groups, such as ‘Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra, which are also linked to various gambling, drugs, and human trafficking operations.

Sacra Corona Unita has earned a name for itself precisely for its merciless methods. Anyone on its cross-hair would end up dead with crushed skulls so that their families couldn’t give them an open-casket burial. All three groups mentioned here were known to collaborate on at least one illegal gambling project which was clamped down by authorities back in 2018.

The trio were running an illegal gambling ring that was estimated to be worth €4.5 billion at the time – around $4.80 billion today’s money. However, this is unlikely to have put the groups out of money. The Sacra Corona Unita in particular is running gambling dens in Albania, investigators believe.

Despite his penchant for violence, Raduano was not himself a violent prisoner while serving his time. He in fact ended up behaving as a model prisoner and was rewarded with a job at the library. It’s believed that his rather freer schedule let him plan his escape and act on his plan. The prison where he was held, Badu ‘e Carros, was also experiencing major staff shortages, meaning that Raduano’s escape was not noticed until after two hours.

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