Belgian regulator adds 16 online casinos to igaming blacklist
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The blacklist, first introduced in 2012, now includes a total of 277 domains that have been found to have offered games of chance without a licence granted by the Commission des Jeux de Hasard (CJH) regulator.
The 16 sites, added to the list on 15 September, include Evobet.com, Winorama.com and Cloudbet.com. Some 28 domains were added in July, with four in June.
Players are liable to a criminal penalty of up to €25,000 if they play on these sites, with operators facing possible fines of up to €100,000.
The Gaming Commission said: “It is forbidden for anyone to operate a game of chance without a license previously granted by the Gaming Commission. It is also prohibited for anyone to participate in an illegal game of chance, facilitate its exploitation or advertise it.”
Prominent brands such as Bet365, WilliamHill, Betfair and Betfred are among the domains to have been added to CJH’s blacklist.
A recent report from CJH showed that betting activity in the country increased by more than four times during football’s Euro 2020 tournament. There were 36,418 new players during Euro 2020, more than quadruple the 8846 registered during the month of May.
Earlier this week, Belgium’s Constitutional Court confirmed the annulment of the country’s 1999 Gambling Act, in a decision that confirms that operators may not offer different types of game on the same website. The act had largely been replaced by a 2019 equivalent, meaning there is little change beyond confirming the separation of online gaming (A+) and online betting (F1+) product verticals.
