Belgium brings in police over blacklist
Report detailing unlicensed operators sent to Public Prosecution Office.
The Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) has brought in the country’s police force to file a report detailing the identities of blacklisted egaming sites in the EU member state.
Now in the hands of the Public Prosecution Office, the report will be followed by communication between the BGC and the blacklisted sites about what they can do to have their names removed from the list.
Peter Naessens (pictured), head of the BGC’s regulatory unit, told eGaming Review that IP bans will be introduced in the near future, directing players attempting to access the sites in question to a “stop” page. Operators accessing the stop page will be provided with a contact number allowing them to reach the BGC directly.
He revealed that those operators named on the list so far have been included because they “[Are] aimed at the Belgian market, did not introduce a demand for a licence and we could consider that they attract Belgian players in a significant way.”
Naessens also detailed the ways in which an operator can be removed from the list, explaining: “If they [are awarded] a Belgian licence, if they close down their .be website or if they exclude Belgian players from their .com website, then these operators will be removed from the blacklist at the next meeting of the BGC.”
Currently there are 10 operators named on the blacklist, although one – Chilipoker – claims to have closed its services to Belgian players and is in discussions with the BGC about its removal from the list.
“We will examine if they really exclude Belgian players at their .com site. If they really do, then we will propose the BGC (at the beginning of next month) to remove them from the black list,” Naessens said.
Belgium is set to award more licences over the course of the coming months, both for gaming arcades and sports betting operators. So far six operators have applied for betting licences, including bwin.party (for its bwin brand) and Unibet.
Once those licences have been awarded the BGC will be able to add more unlicensed operators to the blacklist, with the number on the list expected to rise as high as 100 before the end of 2012.
A number of operators have already been awarded an egaming licence in Belgium, including PokerStars and Circus Groupe.