Kazakhstan’s Top 8 Online Casinos and How I Chose Them

How I chose Best 8 casino sites in Kazakhstan

If you get yourself familiar with the criteria that I used making the rating, then you will be able to make a rating of your own in case you feel a need to do so.

Well, let’s jump right into them:

• Reputation. This is the only parameter where no trade-offs are tolerated. Either online casino has a reliable reputation on the market or it has not. This parameter is more important for Kazakh players than for anybody else because when playing at international online casinos they are left on their own. It is true since players from Kazakhstan can not get protection at local courts when it comes to playing at international companies. Hence, the last resort is to seek for gambling operators who really cares about whether the customer is happy or not.

• License verification. There are no online casinos with Kazakhstan license as it simply does not exist. Hence, Kazakh players need to try their luck at online casinos with the license of some gambling offshore. It could be Curacao, Malta, Gibraltar or some others. At first, I try to find out in which gambling jurisdiction an online casino obtained its license. Then I visit this gambling commission’s website in order to verify that the license is valid and active.

• Software validity. Many online casinos with fake software are operating on the Kazakh gambling market. Players are basically getting scammed at such fraud venues. Fortunately, there is a very reliable method of how to detect fake casino software and I use it with any online casino that I consider to add in my rating.

• Language. Preferably Kazakh language or at least Russian (co-official language) must be available on casino’s platform in order to be included in Top 8 rating. Needless to explain further as everybody prefers to communicate in his/her native language.

• Responsiveness (customer service). From time to time Kazakh players encounter rather not standard issues which require a personal approach. It is always a good thing to have a support team on your side which provides you with top quality assistance within minutes. So to say, an online casino should have live chat feature as the most convenient method of communication for Kazakh players.

• Variety of games. The days when online casinos had very few games on its platforms has passed. I would not consider offering any online casino to Kazakh players until it had at least 1,000 video slots and some live dealer games in place.

• Verification procedure. Each casino player from Kazakhstan must pass KYC (know your customer) procedure. However, it could be done very differently from the casino’s side. Normally, it should not take longer than a few minutes for the Kazakh player to establish his/her identity.

• Bonuses and promotions. It is a huge part of the gambling experience, but bonuses can be very tricky and misleading. I usually take a closer look at wager and wagering weight for different casino games in order to find out if a particular bonus is even worth to be claimed.

• Deposit/withdrawal methods, limits and fees. First thing first, there must be a sufficient amount of deposit/withdrawal options which, from their side, are popular enough in Kazakhstan. Then, the limits for these payment methods must be set at reasonable levels. Another important aspect is the commissions and fees. They should not be any tangible burden for players.

• Design and user-friendliness. Nowadays, you can easily enjoy many websites on the internet that are looking good and function properly. But some online casinos got stuck in the 2000s in terms of the quality of their websites. Here I assess the casino’s website speed, navigation and design quality so that I can better understand if it is worth to be promoted among Kazakh players.

Kazakhstan’s online gambling laws

First gambling legislation was introduced in Kazakhstan in 2007. This act prohibited online gambling in the country and limited land-based gambling to two special zones. They are Kapshagay, in the south near Almaty, and Schuchinsk, in the north not far from Nur-Sultan.

Article 6 of the act “On gambling industry” explicitly prohibit any online gambling activities on the territory of Kazakhstan. However, online gambling is not considered as a crime or a felony for common people. In practice, the government just try to block access to websites that accept casino players from Kazakhstan.

It is fair to say, that they have not succeeded so far, and players from Kazakhstan still can play at many online casinos using either VPN services or duplicate links of such casino websites. I would like to stress out that being a Kazakh citizen you won’t be prosecuted if you decide to play at an online casino. You just could face some obstacles while getting access to online casinos’ websites.

Legal Age is 21 years old for Kazakhstan’s land-based casinos. Though this rule is not applied for online gambling since it is simply illegal. Each online casino set up different thresholds for Kazakh players. It could be either 18 or 21 years old.

Taxes. Winnings at online casinos are deemed to be an income in Kazakhstan. Hence, Kazakh players who were lucky to win something (win and withdraw actually) must pay a 10% flat rate income tax.

Self-exclusion. As you may have concluded, there is no government initialized service for players with a gambling addiction in Kazakhstan. So they can only rely on the casino’s responsibility regarding such matters. I have placed in rating only online casinos which allows Kazakh players to exclude themselves from online gambling for a period of time or permanently.

Kazakh language in casinos’ platforms

Here I faced a dilemma, either put in rating casinos with less appealing other parameters but Kazakh language in place or instead with Russian available but with a far more established reputation on the market.

I have rather chosen the second path, as I know that the majority of Kazakh citizens are very familiar with the Russian language so that it won’t become any barrier for them. But it allows me to pick out online casinos more thoroughly because now I have a much wider choice.

Bonuses and promos for Kazakh players

Kazakh casino players are being offered with bonuses and other promotions with no limitations as a rule of thumb. It is a very predictable thing to happen since the local government does not have an intricate policy regarding gambling on the internet.

It is a great thing for Kazakh players, no doubt about that because bonuses allow enjoying casino games far more longer (Why bonuses are prohibited in some countries ?).

Payment options at online casinos for Kazakh citizens

That is how my rating of casino payment methods in Kazakhstan would look like:

• Russian e-wallets. Yandex.money, QIWI, Webmoney. Fast payouts along with the relatively easy procedure to withdraw money from e-wallet (some of them even issue bank cards) make this option very appealing to Kazakh players.

• International e-wallets. Skrill, Neteller, Ecopayz. They would take the first place, but unfortunately, they don’t issue bank cards for Kazakhstan citizens since the country is not in the SEPA zone. Without bank cards in place, it is less convenient to cash out money from e-wallet than it would be in case with Russian e-wallets. However, withdrawals from an online casino to e-wallet itself usually happen within minutes.

• Bank cards and bank transfer. Both make the job done fairly well. But there are two downsides: processing time is too long (it takes several days) and your government could ask you to pay taxes (because they can request info about all your transaction in the bank).

• Cryptocurrencies. It takes some knowledge to use cryptocurrencies successfully as a payment method on the internet, and, undoubtedly, the relative complexity of crypto wallets scares off so many Kazakh casino players. Other than that, crypto is awesome because of fast cashouts, low fees and privacy of transactions.

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How to Deposit with Dogecoin at an Online Casino: Buy, Set Up a Wallet, Transfer

Casino Games offered for players from Kazakhstan

All popular casino games are available for players from Kazakhstan so that they can play in thousands of Video Slots, Roulette, Baccarat, Craps, Blackjack, Video Poker, Bingo, Keno, Scratch Cards at any online casino from Top 8 list.

Some software providers could prohibit some online slots in Kazakhstan, but it always happens only due to some copyrights intricacies (Why some slots are not available in some countries ?).

What about security at online casinos for players from Kazakhstan?

Speaking about the legal security of online gambling in Kazakhstan, it is pretty much safe. There are no known cases of people getting in legal troubles for online gambling from Kazakhstan.

In terms of cybersecurity, online casinos are safe, because I have picked out only those that have years of stainless reputation. Anyway, it would be wise of you to have your passwords at online casinos at least 12-characters long, change them from time to time, and not have the same password at all online casinos.

Live games which are available from Kazakhstan

Live games are a big deal for Kazakh players because not all of them can easily visit land-based casinos (Kazakhstan is rather a big country and there are only two gambling zones which are close to capitals).

Live dealers let to feel offline casino spirit without being necessary to take a long trip anywhere.

Some questions you may ask

Do Kazakh players need to pass KYC (Know your customer)? Yes, it is a requirement at any legit online casino for citizens of any country. It is done in an attempt to prevent underage gambling.

Do Kazakh players need to prove Source of Funds? It happens fairly rare and you are supposed to prove that the money you deposited at an online casino was obtained legally. It does not matter for the casino whether you paid taxes or not. It only cares that some criminals do not launder money at their venues.

Are there any casinos with KZT? Yes, there are some of them definitely. The only problem is that it’s quite a challenge to find a reliable casino with KZT in place. However, at least FastPay casino let Kazakh players to open an account in KZT.

Are Kazakh players eligible to progressive jackpots? Yes, you are. You can participate in progressive slots made by many software providers, including notorious progressive jackpots of Netent and Microgaming.

Top Mobile online casinos in Kazakhstan

All online casinos from my rating have got an APP available so that you can have easy access to many casino games on both smartphones and tablets. Just download it from Apple Store/Google Play, as you normally do with any other APPs.