The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has lodged a formal complaint with the Bank of Lithuania, accusing Lithuanian payment service provider Walletto of processing payments connected to illegal online gambling operators. The trade body wants the central bank to investigate its findings and take tougher action against the financial networks that help unlicensed gambling websites reach customers across Europe.
The complaint follows an EGBA investigation into illegal gambling websites and mobile apps aimed at European consumers. During that work, the association said it carried out test transactions that indicated Walletto’s payment services were linked to deposits on several illegal gambling platforms. EGBA has now asked Lithuania’s financial regulator to examine those findings.
EGBA links payment access to illegal gambling growth in Lithuania
Although the complaint focuses on one payment provider, EGBA says the issue stretches well beyond a single company. According to the association, illegal gambling businesses depend on access to widely used payment methods and established card networks to continue operating outside licensed regulatory systems across the European Union. Without those payment channels, it argues, their ability to attract customers and process deposits would be significantly reduced.
The association also says players using illegal gambling sites can miss out on safeguards required from licensed operators. Those protections include stronger identity verification, safer gambling tools, anti-money laundering controls and confidence that legitimate winnings will be paid. EGBA further warned that weak identity checks may allow minors and self-excluded individuals to access those platforms.
“Payment providers should not be allowed to process transactions for illegal gambling operators. Illegal operators flourish by exploiting legitimate financial channels and the mainstream payment networks that consumers rely on every day,” said Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA.
“Our aim is simple: to leave them no room to manoeuvre, and to cut off the payment channels they use to reach European consumers.”
Haijer added: “Card schemes also have a crucial role to play in combatting illegal transactions: they are better placed than anyone, as they set the rules for these payment networks and see transaction flows no one else can.”
The latest complaint comes a year after EGBA backed a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling involving Lithuania’s gambling advertising restrictions. The court found that amendments expanding the country’s advertising ban were not properly notified to the European Commission through the Technical Regulation Information System, making them unenforceable against businesses because of a procedural failure.
Following that decision, EGBA repeated that notifying draft gambling rules through the TRIS process is a fundamental safeguard for ensuring national laws comply with EU requirements. The association says effective enforcement depends on both proper legislative procedures and consistent action from financial regulators, payment providers, acquiring banks and card schemes to stop illegal operators from using legitimate payment infrastructure.
