Azerbaijan police say online casino network moved more than 5 million manats

Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry has detained six people on suspicion of organizing illegal online casinos, with the financial turnover linked to the operation exceeding 5 million manats. For PSPs and acquirers, the useful part is not the arrest count — it is the payment trail: cards, virtual cash desks, and messaging apps sitting in the middle of the flow.

1. The Cybercrime Department of Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry detained Khagani Alizade, Vusal Tagiev, Asim Zeynal, Emin Mahmudov, Sultanaly Bayramov, and Tural Kerimli.
2. According to investigators, the suspects rented an apartment in Baku’s Yasamal district and used the banned-in-Azerbaijan website chckeeper.net to set up virtual cash desks under the names Tilk007, Rahat001, and Rahat98.
3. Illegal bets and gambling were organized through the profiles Jaguar Casino and Rahat Casino. WhatsApp and Telegram were used to attract participants and receive money, which is the usual sort of channel mix that shows up when operators want to stay outside normal merchant onboarding.
4. During the search, police seized 55 mobile phones and 177 bank cards, along with electronic storage devices and other materials relevant to the investigation.
5. The Interior Ministry said the total turnover of financial transactions tied to the illegal online casinos exceeded 5 million manats. A criminal case has been opened, all six suspects have been charged, and the court ordered them into custody while the investigation continues.