Skrill and Qiwi are in the crosshairs of Russian authorities

By moreen

Skrill and Qiwi are two of the most popular electronic wallets used by millions worldwide. Some use them to transfer money beyond borders quickly and without paying burdensome commissions. Some rely upon these financial instruments for gambling purposes and this is what got them in trouble with Russian authorities. The Roskomnadzor agency has added them on the blacklist and threatens to ban both of them if they fail to make several amendments.

Russian authorities demand them to remove gambling advertisements from their website, otherwise they risk being shut down. Skrill is routinely used by players from all over the world, while Qiwi focuses on the Eastern European market. None can afford to lose the lucrative Russian business and that’s why they’re expected to make the necessary amendments. While players are concerned about what the future might bring, competitors are happy and agree with Roskomnadzor’s decision.

The Russian agency got busy last year and has banned thousands of gambling domains. This is only their latest action, but one that promises to be very effective if successful. By going after the payment operators they severed a vital link for the gamblers, as they have no way to fund their online accounts. Over the course of time there were a couple of collateral victims, such as the Amazon cloud service. For advertising 888Poker to a single banner, their service was taken off-line for a few days.