Russian regulators to strengthen blacklisting measures
New software will block licensed international operators from operating in Russia
Russian telecoms and gambling regulator Roskomnadzor has announced plans to beef up its Internet Service Protocol (ISP) blocking measures to better combat unlicensed online gambling operators.
Under its new plan, which will launch on 1 October, Roskomnadzor will upgrade its blacklisting domain blocking system from its current Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to the newer version IPv6.
The upgrade comes following revelations that IPv4 was allowing internationally licensed gambling sites, which are not licensed in Russia through its blocking mechanisms, making them available to Russian internet users.
Upgrades to the program have corrected this loophole, preventing all unlicensed gambling sites from being accessible by Russian players. It also brings central technology in line with Russia’s largest mobile operator MTS, which rolled out IPv6 after a successful pilot in Moscow earlier this year.
At the same time, the Russian central bank has reportedly drafted an amendment to current regulations allowing it to block the domains of any website that it believes to be involved in financial fraud, which it currently cannot do so without first obtaining a court order.
The latest measures follow the introduction of legislation prohibiting Russian banks and payment processors from having any dealings with internationally licensed gambling sites in May.
In July the Russian Federal Tax Service asked the Ministry of Finance for the authority to compel Russian banks to provide information on customer accounts, even if those accounts were not subject to current investigation, with the aim of “identify and suppress illegal business activities.”
Latest figures released by the telecoms regulator have confirmed the banning of over 3,300 unauthorised gambling sites in the week prior to 21 August, following what it called ‘public complaints’.
In the first half of 2018, the regulator revealed that the number of complaints it received regarding unlicensed operators had more than doubled year-on-year to over 240,000.