Online gambling transactions cannot be stopped, central bank instructs MFS institutions

Staff Correspondent

Although various steps have been taken to prevent online gambling transactions in the country, they are not being effective. Mobile Financial Service (MFS) platforms are still being used in this illegal online gambling activity, through which it is feared that crores of taka are being laundered every day.

Bangladesh Bank, acting on the instructions of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department, has recently asked the country’s 13 MFS operators to take urgent steps. The central bank said that money is being laundered abroad using these platforms, so it has been instructed to identify suspicious accounts and introduce artificial intelligence (AI)-based monitoring systems.

However, MFS operators claim that it is almost impossible to determine the true purpose of person-to-person (P2P) transactions, making it technically difficult to identify gambling-related transactions.

Bangladesh Bank sources said they will meet with seven MFS companies on November 6 to review the steps taken to prevent online gambling transactions. But despite multiple directives issued in the past years, such activities have not stopped.

A central bank official said, “About five thousand crore taka could be laundered annually through gambling.” However, there is no official record of this amount, which makes the whole situation even more opaque.

BTRC said that all gambling websites operating in the country have been shut down. But gambling using VPNs continues. That is, technically and financially, this sector is still active in the invisible net.

Mohammad Zahidul Islam, head of Nagad’s communications department, claimed, “Nagad is in no way involved in such transactions. We inform the authorities if we see suspicious transactions.”

On the other hand, Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, Head of Corporate Communications at bKash, said, “We regularly monitor and report suspicious accounts to the BFIU.”

However, experts’ questions regarding this statement by MFS operators are – if technology and monitoring are so powerful, how are these transactions happening every day?

Assistant Attorney General Tanvir Hasan Joha said, “Online gambling transactions are 100% happening through MFS; not through bank accounts. If suspicious accounts are tracked, it is possible to catch the entire chain.”

He further said, “The task force that Bangladesh Bank and MFS have been instructed to form will fail without technology. The use of open source intelligence (OSINT) and real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems is essential for effective monitoring.”

Economists and banking experts also say that Bangladesh Bank’s regulatory power is limited because it does not have the jurisdiction to regulate websites or apps. Taking advantage of this limitation, gambling networks have now taken on a multidimensional form.

Bank Asia Managing Director Md. Arfan Ali believes, “It is difficult to identify these transactions because the monitoring system is weak. Banks and MFS institutions should have their own teams.”

Former BIBM Director General Toufiq Ahmed Chowdhury made the same comment: “Bangladesh Bank’s capacity is limited. The main responsibility for detecting gambling transactions falls on banks and MFS operators.”

Several intelligence and cyber agency officials were present at the meeting held at BTRC on November 3, chaired by Faiz Ahmed Tayyab, Special Assistant to the Chief Advisor of the Ministry of Posts. However, no clear action plan or public announcement was made after the meeting. As a result, the government’s steps to prevent online gambling are now basically stuck at the ‘letter and meeting stage’, with the transaction flow unchanged in reality.