The Belgian Gaming Commission has supplemented its blacklist of online gambling websites deemed to be illegally targeting the market without a local licence.
The addition of Malta-licensed sportsbook Onextwo.com and Curacao-licensed Casinomidas.com takes the total number of unauthorised domains on the BGC’s hit list to 82, albeit a tiny number compared to the 4,500+ on Italian regulator AAMS’ list of ISP-blocked sites.
Local ISPs have been informed of the BGC’s decision and will now decide whether or not to block Belgians from playing on the websites. It however emerged during February’s court hearing into Bet-At-Home’s unsuccessful legal action aimed at getting its domains removed from the blacklist that less than half of Belgium’s ISPs had opted to block websites after being notified by the BGC.
Under the Belgian Royal Decree that came into force at the start of 2011, online licences were restricted to land-based betting and gaming entities in the country. Operators offering online betting and gaming to Belgian players without a permit run the risk of fines of up to €100k for facilitating, advertising and recruiting for games of chance, with players fined up to €25k.
The blacklist includes many of Europe’s leading pan-European names, such as 888, William Hill, Bet365, and Betfair. A handful of major operators have however managed to enter the dot.be regulated market by forging partnerships with land-based casinos in the country, including PokerStars, bwin.party and Unibet WMS-owned Jackpot Party.
The EU Member State has so far resisted a string of legal challenges from online operators regarding the alleged non-compliance of its licensing regime with European and local law, including Betfair and Telebet in 2011 and bwin.party and Bet-At-Home in 2012. Bwin.party eventually settled its action by entering its BGC-approved partnership with the Partouche Group, launching sports betting, poker and casino at Bwin.be in March of this year.
Article written by Katy Stirland
