Shymkent court sentences organizers of Bingo-37 and Lotoboom online casinos over 3.1 billion tenge turnover

The Financial Monitoring Agency’s department in Shymkent has completed its investigation into an illegal gambling operation run through two online platforms. Two people were sentenced to four years in prison, and the case is a useful reminder for PSPs: the money trail in high-risk gambling rarely stays online.

1. The operation ran through Bingo-37 and Lotoboom. According to the Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM), players were brought in through WhatsApp message blasts. Those who responded were given an account, login and password, plus payment details for topping up balances.
2. Deposits and winnings were processed through bank accounts of 14 straw persons. That setup matters for payment teams because it is exactly the kind of layered account structure that can sit between acquisition flows and eventual settlement.
3. The two online casinos generated a combined turnover of 3.1 billion tenge, or about $6.5 million. In high-risk verticals, that scale is enough to leave a clear banking footprint, even when the front-end looks fragmented across chat apps and multiple accounts.
4. The organizers used the proceeds to buy property worth more than 200 million tenge, or more than $400,000, including BYD Destroyer, LiXiang L6 Max, Chevrolet Monza, SsangYong Rexton, and two land plots. The court ordered the assets confiscated in favor of the state.
5. The sentence was announced in Shymkent, and it has not yet entered into legal force. Two defendants received four-year prison terms.