EGBA accuses Lithuanian fintech Walletto of enabling illegal gambling payments

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has filed a formal complaint with the Bank of Lithuania against Walletto, a payment provider it accuses of processing transactions for unlicensed online gambling operators. The trade body's action follows an internal investigation that included test transactions to gather evidence.

EGBA argues that illegal gambling sites would struggle to scale without access to the same mainstream payment methods and card networks used for legitimate commerce. It is therefore calling for a more coordinated response involving policymakers, gambling and financial regulators, payment firms, acquirers, and card schemes. The association highlights that card schemes are especially well-placed to act because they establish the rules for the payment networks that process such transactions and possess transaction-level data unavailable to other parties.

“Payment providers should not be allowed to process transactions for illegal gambling operators,” said Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA. He added that the group's objective is to eliminate the financial channels that illegal operators exploit to reach European consumers, and stressed that card schemes must use their unique oversight to help block these flows.

EGBA further urged financial regulators to fully and consistently apply existing rules, including the EU’s Payment Services Directive and anti-money laundering laws, against payment providers. It also called on card schemes to take proactive steps to prevent their networks from being used to facilitate illegal gambling transactions.