The Agency for Financial Monitoring of Kazakhstan announced on November 4 that it had put Russian citizen Dmitry Punin and Ukrainian citizen Marina Ilina on the wanted list. They are suspected of running illegal activity through the Pin-Up and Pinco online casinos, which targeted users in Kazakhstan. Both have been placed under pretrial detention in absentia, the AFM reported in an official statement.
According to investigators, the casinos relied on a sprawling international infrastructure of controlled companies, payment organizations and banking instruments. The Kazakh link was TOO Bonami, which obtained a betting license under the PIN-UP.KZ brand. But investigators say the legal bookmaking business was a cover for the online casino.
Money moved through acquired payment organizations, nominee executives and bank terminals. In total, a network of 24 payment terminals was set up at various banks and financial organizations. Of these, 14 were used to accept funds. According to the AFM, their connection and operation were ensured with the help of representatives of the financial sector.
According to the agency, transaction volume exceeded 106 billion tenge, or about $234 million at the National Bank's official rate of 453.26 tenge per dollar for November 4, 2026. The National Bank's official rates for November 4 were 453.26 tenge per dollar and 506.70 tenge per euro.
The first wanted notice in this case was issued in February 2026. That month, the AFM also put two foreign nationals linked to the case on the wanted list: 46-year-old Dmitry Druzhinsky, a US citizen, and 41-year-old Marina Levkovich, a Ukrainian citizen. At the time, the agency described the scheme as online casino operations under the PIN-UP and PINCO brands, run by a group of people acting from abroad through a network of affiliated companies.
For the market, the significance is that the case involves not a single website but a combination of a licensed bookmaker, payment organizations and banks. In the charges, the PIN-UP.KZ license is presented as a cover, not as evidence of legality.
The AFM statement does not mention the detention of the suspects.
