The Bulgarian Gambling Commission has added 26 domains to its blacklist of websites which it claims are actively targeting Bulgarian players without a local licence.
While several operators found their names on the list for the first time, most notably Betsson.com, previously blacklisted Bet365 and Unibet were the BGC’s main target today, associated with no less than 16 of the 26 sites added to the now 76-strong hitlist.
These new additions include eight locally licensed dot.country sites – three belonging to Bet365 and five to Unibet – which don’t actually accept play from Bulgaria, such as Bet365’s ring-fenced dot.es site, Bet365.dk, Unibet.com.au, Unibet.fr. Unibet.it and Unibet.be.
This would appear to further undermine BGC chief Ivan Enicherov’s recent claim that his organisation is only blacklisting and blocking sites which are actively targeting local players, however Bet365′s dot.country sites still offer the same Bulgarian language option as its dot.com site when visited by players from elsewhere, so were likely to have been blacklisted for this reason.
The BGC’s blacklist also includes operators such as Offsidebet which exited the market some time ago and others which don’t actually offer a Bulgarian-language option, such as William Hill.
Pinnaclesports, 12Bet, Tipico, Canbet and 5dimes.eu also found their main domains added to the blacklist today, joining just about all of Europe’s leading operators, including PokerStars, William Hill, PartyPoker, Bet365, 888, Betfair and Ladbrokes, Betfred, Sportingbet, Bet-At-Home and Unibet.
The companies are “presumed notified on the day of publication” of the BGC’s decision, and have been given three days to voluntarily block Bulgarian players from accessing their websites or be subject to a court order compelling local ISPs to suspend access, with these service providers being obligated to do so within 24 hours of the court order being published on the Commission’s website.
Operators are currently unable to apply for licences as the BGC has thus far failed to put the necessary regulations in place, despite the country amending its Gambling Act in July 2012 to provide a framework for the regulation of online operators. The government has also proposed an unworkable tax regime of 15% of stakes.
Article written by Stephen Carter
