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Kazakhstan’s government will establish a Committee for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries under the control of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, which will be able to “independently and promptly address sectoral issues”, according to local media reports.
The government approved a resolution on September 4 to create the new committee.
Separately, on September 9, 2024, amendments to Kazakhstan's Law No. 219 “On Gaming Business” entered into force, which are intended to reduce gambling-related harm.
Among a raft of changes approved in the law, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports will now approve uniform rules for gaming establishments, bookmakers, totalisers, accepting bets and gambling/betting.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports said it has been increasing its enforcement efforts to tackle illegal lottery activities, according to an update on September 5.
Since the start of 2024, the ministry has filed legal action against 103 illegal lotteries, with 48 individuals already sentenced and the remaining cases still under investigation.
Through collaboration with other government agencies, including the Financial Monitoring Agency and the General Prosecutor's Office, the country has identified 11,417 websites with “signs of illegal activities”.
In total, 6,639 of the potentially illegal websites have been blocked, 1,961 are now unavailable, 1,353 websites were found to have legal violations and 227 were already blocked by the State Technical Service.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports said it “will continue to work in the direction of protecting the rights of citizens, ensuring order in the market of online services, as well as monitoring and blocking illegal services in this field”.
