Advertising of certain goods such as tobacco


and gambling, is expressly prohibited under the Advertising Act (Article 46), however the Uzbek Competition Committee, which monitors adver- tisements, has raised some concerns over the in- crease of gambling advertisements on social net- working sites, particularly Telegram. As of the end of 2025 there were no licences


yet granted under the new regulations. However, it was reported that 70 websites were blocked last year after promoting their gambling services online. Meanwhile, there are still issues surrounding


money laundering and illegal operations. Former UPay CEO Bekhzod Botirov was arrested at the end of last year and faces charges under Uz- bekistan’s Criminal Code for allegedly organising illegal gambling operations. Botirov was arrested in July 2025 for the illegal


organisation or facilitation of gambling. His de- tention was extended to February after a court


ruling in September last year. Te case originated after a request by the NAPP,


which alleged that UPay processed online gambling payments disguised as legitimate transactions. Te Humans Group argues that licensed payment providers continue to facilitate online gambling without similar intervention from the regulators. Botirov now faces a series of audits on both


UPay and other businesses he is involved with such as Pay Way and the Payment. Te case has become one of the most contro-


versial in the country’s fintech sector. It comes against the backdrop of a current arbitration pro- ceeding of the Humans Group (which operates UPay) and the Republic of Uzbekistan at the In- ternational Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. One of the central issues in the arbitration is the suspension of UPay’s operations in Uz- bekistan.


Also under scrutiny is Octobank, which hit the headlines early last year regarding a number


of money laundering scandals. Te suggestion is that Octobank has become the epicentre for laundering Russian funds via Uzbekistan’s illegal casinos. Octobank is linked to Iskandar Tursunov, who


owns the majority of shares. Te bank was pre- viously called Ravnaq Bank until 2023 when the main shareholder at the time, Sarvar Fayziyev, sold his controlling stake to Tursunov. Prior to 2023, the bank was unprofitable with


a loss of $4.2m in 2022. After the sale and re- branding the bank began to improve mainly be- cause it wrote off many problem loans. Little is known about Tursunov and it is ru-


moured that the ‘real owner’ of Octobank is Oybek Tursunov (son-in-law of the President of Uzbekistan). Octobank has been linked to money laundering and high-risk transactions using payment systems such as Humo, UzCard and UzNext – many used to withdraw money from crypto exchanges.


165


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182