Bwin.party to enter Belgium with Partouche
Operator claims to have "put our differences behind us" with regards to disputes with country's regulator.
Bwin.party has reached an agreement to enter the regulated Belgian market, just three days before co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger (pictured, right) was poised to return to the country to explain the operator’s continued dot.com operation.
Teufelberger had been questioned by Belgian authorities following his speech at the European Gaming and Betting Association’s responsible gaming day in Brussels last month, leading to executives of 12 egaming companies to call upon the European Commission to take action against those regulatory regimes – such as that in Belgium, where online operators require a land-based presence – deemed to be non-compliant with EU law.
However the company has now reached an agreement with Groupe Partouche subsidiary Belcasinos SA and is in the process of formalising dot.be licences, after receiving “approval” for the relationship from the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC).
Peter Naessens of the Belgian Gaming Commission told eGaming Review that the BGC is “A little suprised, but in a positive way, that Bwin has changed its policy.
“As our main policy is channeling the players towards legal markets, the channeling of Bwin players towards a regulated offer in Belgium, means that our channeling percentage grows,” he explained.
Naessens added that Teufelberger will still be required to appear next week “To explain to the police officers, who will report to the Public Crown Prosecutor, what exactly the bwin board has decided.”
The agreement is anticipated to follow similar lines to bwin.party’s agreements in other regulated markets, which include a Danish-facing deal with Danske Spil and an online poker agreement in France with Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU).
The operator saw its bwin.com domain blacklisted in Belgium in May, however it continued to provide Belgian customers with access to its offering through secondary and tertiary domains, one of which – www2.bwin.com – was subsequently blacklisted itself.
Amid the first blacklisting, bwin.party and the BGC became engaged in a legal dispute, with the operator losing its initial appeal against its blacklisting but launching a further appeal, which it has now agreed to drop in the light of its reconciliation with the BGC.
Teufelberger and co-CEO Jim Ryan (left), who is due to retire next month, said in a joint statement: “Following recent developments in Belgium and after further dialogue with the local regulator, we have put our differences of opinion behind us and are now focused on the immediate commercial opportunity.
“Together with our new partner we are now in the process of securing the necessary approvals to meet the requirements set by the BGC and do not expect any interruption to our service for customers in Belgium,” they added.
Naessens confirmed that – while there is no exact date for the award of licences – “Both parties have to meet the legal requirements and we have started up the process to remove Bwin from the black list, so that needs some time.
“We expect that in the first quarter of next year all licences might be acquired,” he added.
Bwin.party said in a statement that it intends to offer “Online sports betting, poker and casino games using bwin.party’s leading brands,” and will be able to confirm which domains it operates from as soon as the licensing process is complete.
Groupe Partouche already offers egaming in Belgium through its partouche.be domain and under an A+ casino and poker licence awarded at the start of the year, while another of its partners – WMS-owned Jackpot Party – received clearance to serve the Belgian market earlier this week.
It recently began a restructuring of its online poker operations in the light of the decision not to continue its flagship Partouche Poker Tour live event, and this led to its egaming revenues falling by 10.5% year-on-year in this week’s annual results.
Belcasinos and Partouche Belgium CEO Jacques Frojman said of today’s agreement: “bwin.party is a market leader in online gaming with strong brands in sports betting, poker and casino. We are thrilled to be working with such a quality partner in Belgium.”