Several media outlets report that Turkey has initiated an investigation into the online casino Pin-Up, which operates in defiance of the national gambling ban.
Although the probe was not officially announced at first, its existence surfaced when officials explained that RuTube had been blocked for breaching gambling laws, with a notice appearing when users tried to open the site.
Law enforcement representatives explained that RuTube was blocked precisely because of advertising for the Pin-Up casino, which is banned in Turkey. Pin-Up casino is associated with tax avoidance and transferring money to Russia, which is under international sanctions.
Turkish authorities put Dmitriy Punin on the wanted list for illegal Pin-Up casino operations and money laundering
In Turkey, gambling is strictly regulated by the state. Physical casinos were banned in 1998, and since 2007, the ban also applies to online casinos. Players using unlicensed casinos face fines; however, the law is more focused on combating operators - foreign operators are prohibited from providing online gambling services to Turkish citizens. Foreign companies offering services without a license can face severe fines, and their assets may be frozen.
Pin-Up casino, operating under a Curaçao license and registered in Cyprus, falls under all these prohibitions. Formally, Marina Ilina is the CEO and owner of PIN-UP Global, the operator of the Pin-Up casino. In fact, it is her husband Dmitriy Punin. Both are Russian citizens but reside in Cyprus. Interestingly, exactly one year ago - on April 13, 2024 - Dmitriy Punin was arrested in Limassol. However, information about the reasons for the arrest and the arrest itself has been cleaned up - the original source, which Leonid Nevzlin refers to in his post on platform X, is inactive, and other sources show "404 error".
Turkish authorities put Dmitriy Punin on the wanted list for illegal Pin-Up casino operations and money laundering
As for Turkey, Pin-Up, contrary to the ban by Turkish authorities and its own statement that "PIN-UP Global prohibits the use of its trademark and software products" in several countries, including Turkey, actively operated there. Turkish citizens have no problem leaving their money in Pin-Up casino: it just takes half a minute to search online. Incidentally, despite the law enforcement statement about the investigation into Pin-Up and the blocking of RuTube, the casino link is still active. To bypass the bans, the site simply provides an option to switch to a mirror site.
Turkish authorities put Dmitriy Punin on the wanted list for illegal Pin-Up casino operations and money laundering
Regarding PIN-UP Global’s statement that the company "prohibits the use of its trademark and software products" in Turkey, it can be assumed that PIN-UP Global owner Dmitriy Punin decided to create some sort of "alibi" for the Turkish authorities - claiming that they officially stated to prohibit the use of their trademark, so it is not them collecting money from the Turks, but fraudsters posing as them.
Whether such a crude excuse will work with Turkish law enforcement is unknown. However, it can be assumed that it is unlikely to significantly help Dmitriy Punin and his wife Marina Ilina because, firstly, PIN-UP Global grossly violated Turkish law, which explicitly prohibits foreign casinos from operating in the country, and secondly, it infringed on the gambling monopoly, which in Turkey is held exclusively by the state.
What actions Turkish law enforcement will take against PIN-UP Global owner Dmitriy Punin is not yet clear. Since the penalty for operating without a license, which is precisely what Pin-Up was doing in Turkey, includes only fines and freezing of assets.
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However, according to publications in Turkish media, an investigation has been launched into Dmitriy Punin and Marina Ilina for money laundering and tax evasion. These are criminal offenses. Criminal liability for money laundering is provided by Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Turkey. Specific criminal liability for the act of "transferring abroad" income from crimes is established according to Article 282(1) of the Criminal Code. Its sanction is from three to seven years of imprisonment. However, in Dmitriy Punin’s and Marina Ilina’s case, the fourth part of this article comes into effect: "if this offense is committed in the course of activities of an organization created for the purpose of committing offenses, the punishment is doubled." Therefore, Dmitriy Punin faces a potential sentence of six to fourteen years in a Turkish prison, which inmates consider much worse than a Russian one.
The situation for Dmitriy Punin and Marina Ilina is further complicated by the fact that due to historical events, Turkey does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus as a sovereign state. On one hand, this almost excludes Cyprus from extraditing the couple to Turkish authorities. But, on the other hand, it significantly complicates Punin’s ability to strike a deal with Turkish law enforcement by offering them a sum of money. Moreover, it means that Dmitriy Punin and Marina Ilina have virtually closed access to other countries where Ankara does not hold such prejudices.
But the problems for the owners of Pin-Up casino do not end there - they are wanted by others. For instance, Ukraine, where the investigation into Pin-Up casino is in an active stage, and Dmitriy Punin’s associates - nominee owner of the Ukrainian branch Ihor Zotko and member of the Commission for Gambling Regulation Yevgeniy Yakhniy, who lobbied for Pin-Up’s interests, - are in custody. They are actively testifying against Dmitriy Punin. So for now, Dmitriy Punin’s prospects do not look bright.
