Two million people are involved in online gambling in the country. Illegally, they transact more than Tk 150 crore a month through mobile banking services. In this way, the transaction is Tk 1,600 crore to Tk 2,000 crore annually. This money is smuggled out of the country by crypto currency or hundi. And in this case, Bangladeshi fintech technology is being used.
This information has been obtained from the investigation of BTRC, Bangladesh Bank and CID. In August, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police was investigating 186 apps and links involved in gambling.
Agent numbers of almost all mobile banking in the country are used to transact gambling money. The CID has recently made a recommendation to Bangladesh Bank to stop 1,500 such agent numbers.
However, the CID has confirmed that gamblers do not have any app or site of their own in the country. According to sources, online gambling is going on through apps made abroad and controlled from abroad. They are controlled by Russia, Cyprus, Africa, and India. At least 50 of these apps are very popular in Bangladesh. Of these, 13 organizations provide financial services in mobile banking. Its agents charge a commission of Tk 5,000-6,000 per lakh. CID sources said that more than Tk 1,500 crore is transacted in 1,500 agent numbers every month. Due to these reasons, the overall mobile transaction size in the country is believed to be increasing abnormally in many cases.
According to the investigation, online gambling is going on around international or other sports including cricket, football held in the country. During these games, online gambling is being held directly through websites or apps in exchange for money. Among them, One X Bet, Bet Winner, Parimatch, Bet365, Line Bet, MailBet, 22 Bet and Pin Up are the most popular online sites.
Recently, the CID arrested four members of a gang operating gambling on bet winners during raids in Tejgaon, Bangshal, Lalbagh and Mirpur areas of the capital. CID’s Additional Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Azad Rahman told the media, “Crores of taka are being smuggled through this bet-winner site every month. Preliminary investigation revealed that the website was controlled from Russia under the name Super Admin or Master Admin. Managers are appointed to look after in different countries. The manager hires loyalists as gambling agents in Bangladesh. All the four arrested are Bangladeshi agents of online gambling.’
According to the statistics, more than Tk 1,32,175 crore was transacted in mobile banking in June last year. In the previous month, this figure was Tk 1,08,000 crore. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (BTRC) has already blocked more than 6,000 websites and apps. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has written to Google, Facebook and YouTube to block links to 246 more apps and websites.
According to BTRC sources, there are 150 such apps in the Google Play Store. Of these, 14 apps have been deleted by Google in response to the BTRC’s request. The company is also taking necessary steps to stop the remaining 136 apps. Facebook and YouTube also recently blocked 17 gambling links.
On the other hand, sources in the Ministry of Commerce said that in most cases of online gambling in Bangladesh, money transactions are done through mobile financial services (MFS). Therefore, all MFS operators including bKash, Nagad, Rocket have been instructed to monitor the accounts of customers regularly. Apart from this, they are also being used in transactions as credit or debit cards are available. The Commerce Ministry has also written to Bangladesh Bank to take necessary action in this regard.