bwin.party co-CEO detained in Belgium
Norbert Teufelberger, co-chief executive of bwin.party and chairman of European and Bettting and Gaming Association (EGBA) questioned by Belgian police following annual conference in Brussels.
Norbert Teufelberger (pictured), co-chief executive of bwin.party and chairman of the European and Bettting and Gaming Association (EGBA) has been detained by Belgian police at the lobby group’s annual Responsible Gaming Day in Brussels in the early part of this afternoon.
eGaming Review understands Teufelberger is being held in relation to the operator’s continuing activities in Belgium, where it continues to serve players despite seeing two of its domains being added to the country’s blacklist for unlicensed operators.
eGR also understands that Teufelberger was permitted to conclude his closing statement at the event before being brought in for questioning, at which point he will be asked to justify bwin.party’s continued dot.com operation in the EU member state.
A spokesman for the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC), told eGR: “He is permitted to make his speech, and after that he has to answer questions and explain why bwin is not following the rules with regards to offering games of chance [in Belgium].
“Based on his answers the public prosecution will decide whether he will remain in custody,” added the spokesman who confirmed the police who detained the executive are “online gaming specialists”.
Bwin.party’s www.bwin.com and www2.bwin.com domains have been blacklisted by the BGC, which has issued egaming licences to a number of other operators including PokerStars and Unibet.
The operator is currently engaged in a legal dispute with the BGC – its initial appeal against its blacklisting was dismissed in June, however the operator continues to fight its case.
The Austrian has been arrested once before. On 15 September 2006 Teufelberger and Bwin co-founder Manfred Bodner were arrested by French police at a press conference in La Turbie accused with offences against the country’s gambling laws, then unlicensed. Following an they were released them on three days later.
Update: bwin.party has released the following statement:
In response to press reports this afternoon, the Group can confirm that Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEO, was requested to attend an interview with the Belgium authorities. He complied voluntarily with this request and is co-operating fully with the authorities. We will issue further details in due course.